


Supernormal

by orphan_account



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: ALEX AND JOHN ARE BOTH INFURIATINGLY OBLIVIOUS, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M, Slow Burn, alex is bi actually but you know what i meme, technically a high school au but thats not really the focus, this is a romcom but with gays and superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-07-16 17:14:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 73,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7276792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens first meet, they meet as the Hurricane and Zero Frequency. After that fateful first meeting, they rarely get a break from each other while individually trying to save the city, much to their shared annoyance. Whenever they're in the same place, nothing goes right, and Alex isn't sure whether it's just a result of selfishness or sabotage.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, there's something about Zero that makes Alex a little too eager to investigate. He's determined to learn Zero's true identity, but with a mounting supervillain bent on taking control of the White House, he's not sure if now is really the best time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When In the Course of Superhuman Events

**Author's Note:**

> here we are. you're reading gay fanfiction about historical figures. i'm writing gay fanfiction about historical figures. i don't see a reason for either of us to stop.
> 
> my own personal regret for writing this will sink in by a week's passage, i assure you.

This was _his_ city. It hadn’t always been, but it was now, and that was all that mattered.

On the morning of Sunday, September 4th, 2016, he learned that from then on, he was going to have to share.

It was 9:00, and Alexander Hamilton was jarred from his sleep by a sustained, beeping noise that pierced the silence around him. After blinking his eyes open and gaining some of his wits about him, he was able to identify it as the sound of his phone ringing to confirm the acceptance of a video call. He rolled over on his side, stretching his neck to look at his phone where it was sitting on his bedside dresser.

Despite his fatigue, he jumped up immediately to answer it when he saw that it was from Washington, the former superhero and current President of the United States (no big deal, really) who served as his mentor and had for the three years after he’d discovered his powers in middle school. He fumbled to hit the button that would accept the call and pulled his phone into his lap. “What’s going on?” he asked when Washington’s face appeared on the screen, practically jumping out of bed so he would be ready for whatever situation was at hand.

Washington cleared his throat, then began, wasting no time with pleasantries. “Alex, there’s an attack going on at the Atrium Offices building on Brown and Chestnut. The perpetrator has been identified as Demolition Beta, one of the Crowned’s lackeys.” At that, Alex raised his eyebrows in surprise. D.C. hadn’t had an attack from the Crowned since Washington took office. “It’s been confirmed that Beta is the only attacker, but we want you to get there as soon as possible. This attack is pure fear mongering, nothing more. Make sure no one you have the opportunity to save gets hurt, son. We’ll have the police department dispatch the necessary ambulances to treat the wounded after you’ve taken care of things. Subdue Beta so the department can lock him up.”

Alex nodded. “On it, sir,” he confirmed, then hung up and tossed his phone on the bed. He pulled off his boxers, then pressed a button on the bracelet he always wore around his wrist; consequently, his supersuit materialized around him. He always wore his suit underneath his clothes in case he needed to be ready at a moment’s notice, but he didn’t mind it being there. Washington had designed it to be lightweight and practically unnoticeable, as well as completely invisible at the push of Alex’s button. He pulled his hair into a ponytail, made sure his mask was secure, and went on his way.

He dashed out of the house, silently praying that he hadn’t woken Hercules or Mr. and Mrs. Mulligan in the process. When he reached the street, he leapt into the air and propelled himself forward with whipping winds that spiraled behind him from his fingertips. He felt a smile unconsciously spread across his face as the air pushing against him made unrelenting contact with his skin, resulting in a pure sensory overload. His heart rate sped up, pumping adrenaline into his bloodstream and sending a prickling feeling across the surface of his skin. This part, just getting there, was just as fun as kicking ass, because it felt exactly the same to him. The rush, the panic, feeling of invincibility: it was all the same, just achieved by different means. As he moved forward, he thought about how he knew these streets as well as he would’ve if he’d grown up in D.C., thought about how the city was his to leave his mark on. And as he reached the top of the building, with his winds petering out to offer him a soft landing, he thought about all of the power he possessed inside of him, all of the power he had the ability to channel into his control.

This was how the people would remember him. This was why they called him the Hurricane.

The area around him was charred, and while he’d been approaching, he’d observed that from the front the building basically appeared to be in shambles. Whole chunks had been broken off and cast onto the street below, and all of the windows were knocked out; areas inside were on fire, and people who worked at the office had pressed themselves against the empty window frames in an attempt to avoid the flames.

Alexander looked up and identified a figure floating ahead of him as Demolition Beta, the person who had caused this terror in addition to what would likely add up to hundreds of thousands in property damage. Alex noticed that Beta couldn’t have been older than he was, an observation that made his stomach churn in discomfort; he was so young, and already fighting for the wrong side. Well, either way, he was causing harm to hundreds of people and would have to be put away for his misdeeds.

Demolition Beta noticed Alexander’s presence immediately, and rose higher into the air. Orange aural projections of his fists formed around his previously bare hands, and he began to close in on Alex before shooting one of his projections at him.

Alex flew to the side, dodging the attack, and shot a blast of wind at the villain’s feet. Beta thought nothing of it, not bothering to avoid it; however, as soon as Alex’s attack hit, he was thrown off balance and fell down to the ground. _Inexperienced_ was the first label that came to Alex’s mind when he processed Beta’s reaction.

Alex hurried over before Beta could get up, directing a current of air towards his body and effectively sealing him to the ground. He felt a warm sensation rise within him, flood through his body: this was the feeling of pride he got whenever he disposed of the city’s villainy. There was something about being the voice of the people, the protector of the people, that made him revel in his job’s importance. Whenever he lived up to that importance, the pride he experienced was beyond satisfying.

“Sir, are you aware that you’re going to be locked up in prison for a very long time after this?” Alex asked, hovering above the ground.

Demolition Beta raised his head and blinked his eyes in a groggy manner. “Um…” he trailed off. “Who the hell are you?”

Alex wasn’t offended that this lackey had no idea of the identity he’d created for himself in D.C., but was instead excited that he now had the opportunity to launch into the speech he’d prepared for this occasion. “I am the protector of the people,” he began in the most confident voice he could manage whilst he was out of breath from expending his powers. With every word that followed, he rose into the air a little bit higher. “I carry the legacy of the General with me, and by doing this I create my own legacy. I am the winds of justice, bringing freedom to those in this city ensnared by the clutches of evil. I deliver endless liberation to those in need of it. I am the remnants of our history, of our revolution, and I speak with the same voice that those before me did not have the chance to use. And because of this, you see, the world’s gonna know my name.” Alex paused for dramatic effect. “I am—”

An “Oh, _fuck_!” carried by the wind was his only warning for the body that slammed into him from the side, causing him to topple to the ground and release his hold on the villain in front of him.

Livid that he’d been interrupted, Alex stood up when he felt the weight leave his body and found himself face to face with someone outfitted in a supersuit and a half-mask. Their face was framed by long, curly brown hair, and though their body seemed more masculine, Alex didn’t want to make any assumptions. “What the ever-loving _fuck_ was that for?” Alex demanded, hoping his unbridled rage was apparent through his words.

The kid frowned, crossing their arms over their chest in some sort of act of irreverence. “Listen, asshole, I don’t know this city very well, so I had to teleport five times before I ended up here. Sure, I might’ve knocked you out of the sky, but that doesn’t mean you have to treat me like shit.”

Alex rolled his eyes and ignored the newcomer, turning back to Demolition Beta. Except, the spot where he’d been pinned to the ground was now empty, and Alex could see him racing through the sky towards an unidentified red spot. “Shit, he’s getting away!” He frowned, then turned back to the other ‘superhero.’ “Who the hell do you think you are to keep me from protecting my own city?”

The bastard had the audacity to wink at him in response. “Zero Frequency is the name, and I don’t have a game.”

“Yes, I can see that,” Alex retorted. “Well, I’d love to sit here and venerate your presence by giving you endless thanks for royally fucking up my day, but as the Hurricane, I _really have to go now_!” His voice crescendoed towards the end of his sentence and the panic rising in him doubled when he realized that while he’d been talking to the new kid, Demolition Beta was getting further and further away.

Without another word, he flew away at full speed, managing to catch up to Beta rather quickly.

He was just behind his target when he was able to identify the red mass Beta had been moving towards as a portal, composed of swirling energy and erratically emitting sparks. _No, he’s going to get away if I don’t stop him,_ he told himself, thoughts of failure attacking his mind from every angle. _Come on, you’re right behind him, you can do it._

As Alex reached out to grab Demolition’s collar, Demolition Beta turned around abruptly and socked him with a projection of his fist. Alex began to plummet, watching the villain escape as he fell further and further down. This is horrible, he thought, feeling his face turn red with shame. A moment before he would’ve hit the ground, he stopped pitying himself long enough to expel a blast of wind from his hands that turned him upright and allowed him to land softly.

_What am I going to tell Washington? I let him get away,_ Alex told himself, the panic which had already been building inside of him further intensifying. However, that panic soon turned to annoyance as he thought, _No, that idiot distracted me. God, I don’t even know who they are, and I don’t want to know who they_ think _they are. They just… turn up out of nowhere and knock me out of the sky? Zero Frequency, more like…_ In that moment, his brain was unable to come up with a clever enough insult, so he just settled on, _More like Zero_ Frick _quency._

He sighed, shaking his head, and zoomed off back towards his house; the feeling of the wind on his skin somewhat caused his anger to taper out, and made him aware of a different problem: _Beta was one of the Crowned’s lackeys… that could mean that the Crowned is back. The first time the Crowned terrorized us, Washington fought him off as the General. Now there’s just me. Well, and Zero. But Zero probably won’t be that important anyways._

For breakfast the next morning, Alex ate his words.

“‘Newcomer Zero Frequency Brings D.C. Deliverance?’” Alex read incredulously, holding the daily newspaper out in front of him like it was made out of toxic waste.

“Oh, yeah, I read about that,” Mulligan contributed. “Surprised to see another superhero in the city. I mean, it’s definitely a good thing that the Hurricane is finally getting some help here.”

Alex quirked an eyebrow in irritation when he remembered that nobody except Washington knew about his identity as the Hurricane. Of course Hercules wouldn’t defend him, because he didn’t know that Alex wanted to be defended. “ _Yesterday morning, the Atrium Offices building saw an attack from the rogue powerhouse known as Demolition Beta,_ ” Alex read aloud. “ _When reporters and ambulances arrived on the scene, locally and nationally known hero the Hurricane was nowhere to be found. Instead, a previously unidentified boy was observed helping victims out of the burning building. When he was questioned, he named himself as Zero Frequency, a newcomer to our city, then teleported away before he could be questioned any further. As you know, the nation is home to only two superheroes, retiree and current President of the United States George Washington, previously known as the General, and the Hurricane, whose civilian identity has not yet been revealed. If Zero Frequency manages to come in contact with the Hurricane and decides to work alongside him, the two could prove to be an unstoppable team._ ” _Yeah, right,_ Alexander thought bitterly. _He would just fuck things up for me, if yesterday was any indication._

Alex hadn’t told Washington about Zero yesterday because he was too disgusted by the memory of Zero ruining his mission. Washington forgave him for letting Beta get away, and for that he was grateful, but he was still resentful over Zero’s part in his failure. If Washington somehow got to Zero and made him and Alex work together… he could only imagine the nightmare that would result in.

For a second, he wondered if he was being a little overdramatic. Then a second later, he brushed away the thought because it was completely obvious that his hatred for Zero was justified. At least, in his mind it was justified.

“Man, I hope they find each other,” Hercules commented. “Or, I hope they figure out a way to work together.” Hercules leaned in closer, like he was about to share something with Alexander that he wasn’t supposed to know. “You know, they’re sayin’ the Crowned’s back on the offensive.”

“Are they?” Alex considered for a moment whether it would be beneficial to feign surprise, but decided against it. “Well, the President defeated the Crowned once as the General, and now he has the Hurricane on his side. I’m sure if the Crowned does decide to come back, he’ll be ready.”

Hercules shrugged. “Whatever. If the Crowned _is_ back, I hope he gets his ass kicked.”

After they finished their food, they grabbed their backpacks and walked to their high school. Alex prayed that he wouldn’t have to listen to anyone talking about the city’s new superhero at school.

Unfortunately, his prayers had gone unanswered. After he and Hercules arrived at the spot by the library they normally waited for school to start and sat down with Lafayette and the Schuyler sisters, Eliza immediately scooted closer to him and said, “Hey, did you hear about the new superhero in town, Zero Frequency? I figured you’d be excited about it, since you’re into that kind of news.”

Alex faked a smile. “Yeah, I did! Hercules was just talking to me about it this morning. Wouldn’t it be great if he, the General, and the Hurricane found a way to work together?” As Alex was speaking, he finally realized why Zero Frequency rubbed him so far the wrong way; them being in the same city together felt like someone was putting their hands on something that no one had ever touched other than him. It felt like… it felt like someone was infringing on his rights, forcibly inserting themselves in something that had nothing to do with them. Was Alex selfish for thinking this way? He didn’t know, and he didn’t care. The legacy of the General had always been the Hurricane’s to carry, and he didn’t need anyone ruining his mission.

“Well, I hope they do soon in light of all of the rumors going around,” Angelica broke in with a frown.

“Yeah, I’ve heard,” Peggy muttered. “If those rumors are true, things will start going back to the way they were four years ago. An attack on the White House and the city nearly every day, with hundreds of victims.”

“Zero Frequency could help put the Crowned away once and for all,” Lafayette pointed out, their ponytail bouncing with enthusiasm. “And then the General and the Hurricane could stop worrying about him and give their full attention to the other villains in the city.”

No. That was his job and his job alone. And, of course, the General’s. It had always been the General and the Hurricane, and before that, it’d just been the General. The General against the Crowned, and now, the General and the Hurricane against the Crowned. Zero Frequency didn’t fit anywhere in the picture, as far as Alex was concerned.

Thinking about it was starting to give Alex a headache.

“I’ll be back,” he told the others. “I have to go to the bathroom.” He collected his backpack and walked away at a brisk pace.

He turned the corner that led to the E Wing, and immediately ran face-first into someone going the opposite direction. Alex fell to the ground, landing on his back, and a sharp pain formed behind where he’d been hit on the forehead. When he looked up, a boy he’d never seen before was frantically attempting to apologize.

“Oh, god, sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen,” the boy rambled. “I really didn’t, I swear, I just wasn’t looking where I was going. This is all my fault—”

Alex stopped paying attention to the boy’s words and focused instead on his face. He furrowed his eyebrows when he recalled that this was someone who he’d never seen before, a new face; that in addition to his overly-frantic apology led Alex to believe that he was new and this was his first day here. Alex examined him: he was skinny, with slightly tanned skin, high cheekbones, and a sprinkling of freckles across the center of his face. He had curly, dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. As he spoke, his hands fidgeted, carefully guarding a sketchbook which Alexander had knocked to the ground when he fell.

“Calm down,” Alex interrupted him. “It’s fine. I wasn’t looking where I was going, either. Besides, it’s your first day here, right?” The boy nodded, and Alex smiled at the fact that his previous assumption had proven to be true. “Where’d you transfer from?”

“Um, I came from South Carolina.” The boy was starting to look a lot less nervous: his hands had stopped fidgeting, and his shoulders had relaxed. “I’m a junior.”

“Hey, me too! You’re gonna love it here. My name is Alexander Hamilton, but you can call me Alex. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m John Laurens, but most people just call me Laurens because John is such a common name.”

_Laurens,_ Alex thought. _Why does that name sound familiar?_ Out loud, Alex replied, “Well, Laurens, since it’s your first day here, would you want to sit with my friends and me before classes start? I can show you to your first class, too.”

“That’d be nice,” Laurens admitted with a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I have to ask, why are you being so kind to me if you barely know who I am?”

“John Laurens, I’ve already _fallen_ for you, so I figured I might as well make the best of the situation while I had the chance.” As Alex was saying this, John was trying to stand up, but he laughed so hard at Alex’s shitty pun that he fell on his ass again.

“You’re lame,” Laurens managed between breaths.

“So I’ve been told.” Alex grinned. “Come on,” he continued, helping Laurens up on his feet, “let’s go meet my friends so I can show you to your first class before the bell rings.”

“If your friends are anything like you…” John didn’t have to finish the sentence, just punctuated it with a smile.

Alex didn’t say anything or move, just stared. Stared at the way his wide, watery eyes lit up as he smiled, at the way his eyebrows curved upwards ever so slightly. His face reflected joy in every sense of the word, reflected sunshine; his smile seemed to glow, and it was infectious, casting its soft light across the landscape around him. In that moment, it seemed as if John Laurens was nothing short of the sun itself.

_Overly poetic, cliché descriptions of someone you just met?_ Alexander asked himself. _Yes, you are the definition of fucked._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (demolition is charles lee, in case you didn't figure it out; if not, i don't blame you, i'm hella vague)  
> i dont know how to name superheroes/villains lmao  
> i'm thinking the next chapter will be in john's pov? i'm not too sure. maybe. either way details about john's powers and backstory will be revealed soon enough. ;))))  
> LET'S SEE IF I CAN FINALLY KEEP A STEADY UPDATE PACE


	2. To Assume Among the Superpowers of the Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2/3 of this is john being really gay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry i didn't update sooner!! i'm on vacation @ disneyland but i'll be back on saturday so expect another chapter by then ;))))
> 
> also the french is google translate because i don't know how to speak french oops

“Guys, this is the guy I ran into face-first on my way to the bathroom, John Laurens. He just moved here from South Carolina.”

John hadn’t the foggiest why the most recent things happening in his life had turned out the way they did. Sure, he was here with Alex’s friends because he’d ran into Alex a few minutes ago. Sure, he’d just run into Alex a few minutes ago because he’d moved to Virginia. Sure, he’d moved to Virginia because his mother died and his father didn’t want to stay in their old house. And sure, his mother had died because of a heart complication. But why was it all happening to him? Who decided that _this_ would be the path his life would take?

Looking back, John found he felt similarly towards things that’d happened further in the past. Who made the decision to give him telepathy? And teleportation? What about his abilities to control sonic waves? Why did they allow him to discover all of this too early in life for him to know what to do about it?

Oh, god, even now he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do about it. Yes, when he moved to D.C., he became a superhero because that seemed like the most logical thing to do at the time. But with the Hurricane, the country’s only other active and significant superhero, treating him the way that he had, John wasn’t sure if that had been the best idea. Well, his doubt was more of a personal matter; becoming a superhero _was_ the best idea, considering it was the only way for him to put his powers to use for the good of the public. He just _really_ hated the Hurricane. All of the media attention must’ve found a way to get to his head.

John pulled himself out of his thoughts when a dark-haired girl waved from where she was sitting and began to introduce herself. “Hi, John, nice to meet you,” she greeted with a smile. “My name is Elizabeth Schuyler, but you can call me Eliza.” She was soft, with rounded cheeks and a heart-shaped face. There was something about the way she sat, with her legs crossed primly under her skirt, that gave her a motherly appearance.

“Hercules Mulligan, but most call me Herc,” said a tall, muscular boy sitting next to Eliza. At first, he looked like the kind of guy that wouldn’t hesitate to shove John into a trashcan for so much as just looking at him the wrong way, but once John saw him smile, he knew that wasn’t the case.

“Literally no one calls you that,” retorted a shorter girl. She had hair similar to John’s in texture, but longer in length, and full lips.

“That’s Peggy, Angelica and Eliza’s sibling,” Hercules, or ‘Herc’, told him off to the side. “Or sister, they don’t mind being called that. And about my official nickname, they don’t know what they’re talking about. _Everyone_ calls me Herc.”

_They?_ John thought. _I’ll make sure I don’t mess that up._

“I’m Peggy,” they repeated, “and I’m related to Eliza and Angelica by way of siblinghood.”

“I already introduced you,” Hercules pointed out.

“Yeah, well, I introduced myself again,” Peggy shot back with a pout.

“Anyways,” the tallest girl of the bunch jumped in, “I’m Angelica. You already know that I’m Peggy and Eliza’s sister.”

Next to speak was the tallest of the whole group, a kid with an afro pulled back into a ponytail. They were wearing a yellow-and-white-striped spaghetti strap crop top and high-waisted jeans, and _god_ if they weren’t sporting the most perfect winged eyeliner John had ever seen. “ _Bonjour, je suis Lafayette et je suis un échange étudiant français. Je suis follement amoureuse de Hercules, cependant, il est trop stupide pour réaliser cela parce que je fais une mauvaise habitude de flirter avec tout le monde._ ”

With every word, John’s mouth fell open wider. The words were coming so fast, and obviously, John had no way to process or comprehend them. When the kid was finished, Alex put his hand under John’s chin and gently pushed upwards until his mouth was closed again. John looked over to see that Alex’s cheeks were puffed out in a tight-lipped smile, and he kept stifling his breath to keep himself from laughing. “That’s Lafayette,” he explained once he regained his composure. “They’re a foreign exchange student.”

“From where, I wonder,” John deadpanned.

“Anyways, some things you need to know that weren’t mentioned,” Alex began, ushering John further away from the group and leaning to whisper in his ear. “All three Schuyler sisters are raging lesbians. Though, Eliza and I might have dated (it’s still not clear to me whether or not we were official) in middle school. Lafayette is highkey in love with Hercules, but they think that Hercules doesn’t return their feelings. This, of course, is false, so due to their shared ignorance, they can’t make any moves on each other other than awkwardly initiated flirting. And I might’ve dated Hercules once (again, not sure if it was official), but I gave him up for Lafayette’s happiness out of the goodness of my heart.” Even with his voice dropped to a whisper, John could tell Alex was being needlessly theatrical during his last sentence. Alex pulled back and said out loud, “I hope you’re fine with all that.” He raised his eyebrows as if to ask, _Do you know what I mean?_

John almost laughed. Alex was asking _him_ if he was okay with being friends with a bunch of gays? “Yeah, man, it’s cool. That’s great, actually. I don’t think I could take another second being surrounded by a bunch of straight, Christian conservatives down south.”

“Man, you’re gonna love us,” Alex said with a grin, clapping John on his shoulder.

John winced at the sudden contact, but smiled back anyway. “I think I already do.”

They rejoined the group, and Peggy stared pointedly at the both of them. “I see Alex gave you the talk,” they observed. “Given that we live in the swing state of Virginia, most people at this school don’t survive the talk. Glad you did, though. It’s been a while since we’ve made any friends.” They stared wistfully off into the distance for dramatic effect.

“Come on, Peggy, _sometimes_ I have good taste in people.” Alex turned back around to face John. “Well, Laurens, we have five minutes until the bell rings, so if you wouldn’t mind telling me what your first class is, I would be happy to escort you there,” Alex finished.

And five minutes later, they were in the same AP US History classroom (to John’s utter surprise and relief), with Alex sitting at his desk and John standing against the back wall, smiling nervously at their teacher.

As soon as the bell rang and everyone was in their seats, Alex’s hand shot into the air. “Yes, Alex?” their teacher prompted, looking up from the stack of papers she was attempting to arrange in a pile on her desk.

“Mrs. Ross, can Laurens sit next to me?” Alex asked, gesturing emphatically to a seat across from him which, by a stroke of coincidence, was empty. Actually, on second thought, it wasn’t due to much coincidence, because all of the desks at Alex’s group were empty.

Ross nodded, adjusting her glasses. “I suppose. As long as your conversations don’t bother the rest of us.” She went back to arranging papers for a moment, then looked up, glancing around the room as if she’d forgotten something. “Yes,” she said after she’d presumably remembered it, “we have a new student, John Laurens. He’s the only person sitting next to Alex, as of today.”

Laughter bubbled amongst the rest of the class, who then launched into a chorus of, “Hi, John,” and promptly went back to talking amongst themselves.

John leaned forward. “So, Alexander, how come no one sits next to you?”

“I talk too much,” Alex admitted. “And I debate with everyone Mrs. Ross puts next to me. It’s intellectual conversation, but sometimes I take it ‘too far’ and it gets in the way of her lesson.” He put air quotes around the words ‘too far’ and rolled his eyes when he said them, like he knew it was true but resented the fact.

John laughed. “You’re left, right?” At the question, Alex nodded vigorously. “Then you won’t have to debate with me, I’m pretty sure. Politically, at least.”

“So, John, why did you move to Virginia?”

Alex asked the question with innocent intent, John could see, but John had not received it well internally. He tried as hard as he could to keep himself from thinking about things, but he blinked, and he saw it behind his eyelids. Everything. Broken glass and spilled coffee. The red ambulance lights flashing against the background of midnight. His father standing on the front porch, making an urgent phone call.

He felt it, too. The shroud of sleep still blanketing him as he made his way down the hall after being woken up. The pit that formed in the bottom of his stomach when he saw her. The cold air stinging at his cheeks and skin as he was ushered out of the house, leaving him feeling uncomfortably exposed. The way time seemed to slow to an agonizing pace as he waited for the news, time that he filled by torturing himself with thoughts of the worst.

_“She’s dead, Jack.”_

He wasn’t sure what he remembered most about that night. What he was sure of was that he didn’t want to remember it at all.

_I’m going to start crying in class, aren’t I?_ he thought. Despite his prediction, he was able to keep himself from doing so and thought of something to say that would answer Alex’s question sufficiently enough.

“Um, my dad wanted to get away from my mom,” he said. Technically, it wasn’t a complete lie. It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was enough.

“Oh, sorry about that,” Alex offered.

“No, it’s fine,” John assured him. He kept the conversation going to get his mind off of his mother. “My dad’s a senator, though, so we still have our residence in South Carolina. It’s—”

“Oh my god,” Alex cut him off. “I knew your name was familiar! Your dad’s the asshole guy from South Carolina! Henry Laurens, right?”

John sighed. “Yes, my dad _is_ the asshole guy from South Carolina. And he _is_ Henry Laurens. But I’m nothing like him, I swear,” John told him, practically jumping out of his seat to get the point across.

“John, please, I just met you and I already know you’re, like, ten times the man he will ever be, based on what morals I’ve gathered from you so far.” Alex paused. “And I would say sorry for calling your dad and asshole, but I’m not going to, because it looks like you feel the same way. I’m going to apologize instead for even bringing him up and sounding like a creep. So, sorry about that. I just like to keep up with current events, and I happened to recognize the connection between you and your father.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” John assured him. “You didn’t sound like a creep.”

Alex smiled, and John tried not to notice the way Alex’s hand was now resting on top of his. Instead, he noticed the way the skin around Alex’s eyes crinkled, and when he tried not to notice that, he noticed the way his brown eyes expressed his contentment on their own. Looking down at Alex’s chest, John thought about how warm it would feel to be hugged by him; he noticed the structure of Alex’s small frame and how it would probably fit perfectly against his own. Above all, he noticed how comfortable the silence between them was.

_Whatever,_ John thought.

The rest of the class period, they took notes. John didn’t have any more classes with Alex until after lunch, so Alex told him after class that he and his friends always ate on the amphitheatre stage so John would know where to find them.

Later, John found out he had Angelica and Eliza in his AP Calculus class, but other than that, there was nothing else particularly noteworthy about his morning.

Lunch, on the other hand…

John made his way to the amphitheatre, an open building raised five feet in the air which was built overlooking a large section of grass in front of the library, with his lunch. He waved when he saw Alex, then climbed up the ramp onto the stage.

“Pleasure seeing you here, John Laurens,” Alex greeted.

“Please, Alexander, the pleasure is all mine,” John responded, sitting down next to Alex in the circle his friends had formed.

“John!” Eliza called, waving a plastic wrapped pan of cookies in front of him. “We made snickerdoodles in Home Ec. Do you want one?”

“No thanks, Eliza. Maybe I’ll take a few for the road, though.”

Eliza’s smile never wavered in response to his refusal. “Okay! I’ll save some for you.”

“Laf, can I copy your French homework?” Hercules asked, fishing a notebook and mechanical pencil out of his backpack.

“Don’t make it obvious.” Lafayette rolled their eyes in an exaggerated fashion, then retrieved their own notebook from their backpack with a flourish of their hand.

“Oh! Did all of you study for the vocabulary quiz in Comp?” Eliza asked, pulling out a stack of flashcards from the front pocket of her backpack. The rest of the group groaned collectively.

“No, but it’s cool, because I’m not in that class,” Peggy reminded them smugly.

“Peggy’s just a freshman,” Alex told John off to the side.

“Right, give me the definition of the word I give you and use it in a sentence. First word,” Eliza began, “puissant. Adjective. Alexander, we’ll start with—”

Eliza was cut off when a sphere of orange light crashed in the middle of the grass in front of the amphitheatre, setting it on fire.

“Well,” was all Eliza had to say in response, carefully putting her flashcards away as she stared at the grass.

John peeked out from the stage to see that none other than Demolition Beta had been behind the attack. _The Hurricane let him get away the last time he attacked. I have to make sure he gets caught this time._ John felt the top of his backpack to make sure his supersuit was inside, then forced himself to stay on the amphitheatre stage. If he left right now and Zero Frequency appeared, it would look suspicious.

_If any of them see my face up close, I can always screw with their perception to make sure they don’t remember seeing me,_ John told himself.

When one of Demolition’s blasts landed closer to the amphitheatre stage, they all stood up, staggering forward as a group in an attempt to get out of the line of fire.

“They can’t put us in lockdown for this,” Angelica said with a frown. “Wherever we are will catch on fire, and then we’ll be trapped. We have to stay outside.”

“Yes, but not in the open,” Alex agreed. “We’ll hide behind a building as far away from here as possible. I say somewhere in the N Wing.”

Another blast prompted them to jump off the amphitheatre stage and run behind the building, an area close to the school’s pool.

“And after that, we have to split up,” Angelica decided. “We’ll only be an easier target if we stay in a group.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Eliza said with a nod.

The seven of them headed to the N Wing, the back section of the school which was separated from the rest of it by a road to the bus loading zone cutting through.

“Laf, Hercules, come with me. We’ll split up further when we get enough distance between us and the rest of the group,” Alex said. The three hurried off.

“I’ll go by myself,” John offered.

Angelica frowned. “Do you know the school well enough?”

“I’ll be fine,” John said, then took his backpack and ran to the nearest bathroom that was out of sight for the others.

No one was inside, but he went inside a stall to change, anyways. _This is lovely,_ he thought as he struggled to pull his tights on. _I gotta figure out a faster way to do this._

When he finished putting on his supersuit, he pulled his hair out of its ponytail, then tied his half-mask around his head. “Perfect,” he said, teleporting out of the bathroom.

He looked down just in time to see who he was about to land on top of. Of course; who else would it be?

“Ow,” he muttered as he crashed into the other superhero, causing the two of them to fall into the concrete beneath them. _Guess I was thinking about him when I teleported, huh?_

John raised his head to see that they’d landed by the North Gym, which was directly east of the N Wing. _I hope the others made it far away enough in time,_ John thought.

The Hurricane shifted beneath him, and John remembered that oh, yeah, he’d just landed on top of him. “Ugh,” John muttered, rolling away from him.

“How’d you get here so fast?” the Hurricane asked, standing up.

John joined him. “You don’t need to know,” he retorted. “Anyways, are you gonna let him get away this time?”

The Hurricane knocked him away with a blast of wind, then made himself airborne again. _I hate him,_ John thought as he watched the Hurricane seamlessly dodge Beta’s attacks. _He’s such an idiotic, infuriating, arrogant—_

John drew in a sharp breath and managed to move away in time when Beta sent a blast in his direction. John stood up and deflected Beta’s next attack with a sonic boom.

“Wow, I didn’t know you had powers!” the Hurricane exclaimed in a condescending tone. “Other than never knowing where to land, of course.”

John probably shouldn’t have sent his next sonic boom towards the Hurricane, but he didn’t care. John’s irritation had flared into anger, and taking it out on him was the only way he would have a chance at regaining his composure.

The Hurricane swerved out of the way, grinning. However, the triumphant expression was soon wiped off of his face when he was hit from behind by one of Beta’s attacks.

“Are you okay?” John drawled.

“Shut up,” the Hurricane spat, sending a shot of wind towards John.

John teleported away from the Hurricane’s attack, landing next to him in midair. John took this opportunity to shoot the Hurricane with a sonic boom while he was still trying to process John’s movement.

The Hurricane slammed into the wall of the North Gym with a grunt. “I’m gonna—” Before he could finish his declaration, Beta punched him with one of his astral projections. The Hurricane landed with his back pressed against the ground.

“Good,” John said to himself, taking out the rest of his anger by attacking Beta nonstop. Beta tried to defend himself, but John’s attacks came too fast. Eventually, Beta fell to the ground as well.

Seeing this, the Hurricane stood up, approaching Beta. When John tried to follow, the Hurricane held him back with a shield of air.

“You asked me who I was the last time we saw each other,” the Hurricane spoke to Beta, “and I launched into a speech I had prepared for the occasion that I was very proud of. Unfortunately, before I could finish, Zero Whatever-his-name-is came on the scene gracefully enough to stop me. I’m too tired to give the whole speech again, so I’m just gonna finish with the closing line.” He cleared his throat. “I am the Hurricane,” he said. “There, happy?”

The Hurricane trapped Beta in a swirling ball of air, then allowed the shield preventing John from advancing to dissipate.

Immediately afterwards, the Hurricane reached for his face, and John panicked when he felt his hand on his cheek, so he teleported away. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that since the Hurricane had been touching him, he would end up teleporting with John.

They ended up in the same bathroom John had changed in, but in a different stall. John could tell because his backpack wasn’t there.

“Take off your mask,” the Hurricane demanded.

John’s anger faded into panic. “What?”

“Did I stutter?”

“N-no, but—”

“Take off your mask.”

“W-why do you want—”

But the Hurricane was already reaching for the back of his head, and with a single tug, the tie came undone.

John looked down and covered his face as soon as he felt his mask come undone. After a few moments of silence, he whispered, “Did you see me?”

“No,” came the reply.

That was the only answer John needed. He snatched his mask off the ground, keeping his face covered, and teleported to the stall where he’d left his backpack hanging on the door. He retrieved it, then teleported to another bathroom to change.

As he stuffed his suit back into his backpack, the events preceding replayed over and over again in his mind. Most prominent in his mind was the lull after the Hurricane had pulled his mask off. The silence that formed between them had been comfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dramatic Irony™


	3. Pun Having to Do With the Declaration of Independence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> alex finally sets the real plot in motion!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dear diary,
> 
> it is chapter three and i've already given up on chapter titles. lord help me

The next time Alex saw John, they (along with the rest of the student body) were standing in front of the school at the orders of the police department.

“Alex?”

Alex looked to his right to see John—with his backpack secured tighter around his shoulders than it had been before and his hair now sticking out from his ponytail—walking towards him. “Laurens!” Alex rushed to meet him, tension he didn’t even know he’d been holding in his body dissipating. “I was worried about you,” he realized out loud, a smile spreading across his face. “Did anything happen to you while you were by yourself?”

“No,” John said with a weak smile, taking a shaky breath. “I hid by one of the bathrooms.”

“A bathroom?” Alex repeated, his mind reluctantly going back to the events that’d transpired a few minutes ago. “Which one?”

“Oh, I think one in the N Wing, by the North Gym.”

“John, I was over there! Did you see me?” Alex asked.

John’s gaze floated past him, aimed at nothing in particular. “No, I don’t think so.”

“I should’ve gone looking for you,” Alex scolded himself, apparently having forgotten that he had been occupied with trying to subdue a very dangerous criminal with very destructive powers.

“No, you didn’t have to—” John started to say, but Alex cut him off.

“God, John, I know I just met you today and all, but I was _really_ worried about you,” Alex reiterated once the full significance of the relief he felt in response to John’s presence hit him. “Can I, um,” he sputtered, “can I hug you?”

“Y-yeah, of course,” John answered after a short pause.

Alex draped his arms over John’s shoulders, allowing his breathing to settle into a slower pace as he felt John rest his head in the crook of his neck and wrap his arms around his torso. Yes, this was nice, but Alex couldn’t help questioning himself as they embraced. _Am I hugging this guy out of thirst? Thirst-hugging? No, no, obviously not. Though, I wouldn’t put it past myself. But god, who do I think I am for even considering that I might be thirst-hugging_ John Laurens _? I mean, sure, he’s really cute and his eyes are always bright and he has the prettiest smile I’ve ever seen, but I was genuinely worried about him._ He took a deep breath. _I really need to learn how to stop getting emotionally attached to people right away._

John was the first to pull away. Immediately after he did, he asked, “Do you know what happened? With Beta, I mean.”

_Yeah, I got him,_ Alex thought. _After a minor_ disturbance. He sighed, already feeling himself grow irritated at the thought of Zero Frequency. Seriously, why was he getting involved in something that didn’t even have anything to do with him in the first place? And why was he now _purposefully_ impeding Alex’s progress towards his goals? Alex just wished Zero would go away so he didn’t have to worry about him.

His mind wandered to what happened after the fight, in the bathroom. Alex had only been curious as to Zero’s identity. Well, actually, that was a lie: Alex had felt somewhat _entitled_ to knowing Zero’s identity. He’d figured that if Zero was going to come into his city, Alex at least deserved to know who he was. But Zero left before Alex had a chance to look at his face.

_Why do I want to know so much about this guy that I hate?_ Alex asked himself, and attempted to stop himself from thinking about it further once he realized he was getting too caught up in his own thoughts.

Alex turned his attention back to John. “No, I don’t,” he said, hoping the fact that he was lying through his teeth wasn’t too obvious. “The police are here, though, so I’m guessing the Hurricane got him.”

“That makes sense,” John said with a nod. “Have you seen the others yet?”

Alex shook his head. “Eliza texted me and told me she was with her sisters. Herc and Laf haven’t gotten to me yet, but I’m sure they’re fine. I don’t think anyone got hurt during the attack. Sure, the campus might have a little, but that’s better than anyone from the staff, administration, or the student body ending up in the hospital.”

As John was about to respond with what Alex figured was likely to be agreement, a police officer stepped out from behind the yellow caution tape barring the students off from the school. He spoke into a megaphone and called, “Attention!” Once everyone had ceased their conversation, he continued with, “We are treating this school as a crime scene and conducting an investigation to see if we can find any evidence leading to the presence of previously known supervillains. Because of this, school will not be in session for the rest of the day.”

Despite the cheers that rang out from the rest of the student body, Alex was still focused on the police officer’s penultimate statement. The officer was obviously referring to the Crowned, which meant the threat of him being back on the attack was now being viewed by D.C.’s major authorities as very real. And Alex felt his stomach churn, because maybe things really were about to go back to the way they were four years ago; if they did, it would be his job to do the saving, with Washington behind him.

Alex thought further about the situation at hand, and he realized that at this time, the Crowned’s return made sense. Washington was nearing the end of his first term as the President, and this year, either someone new would take his place or the public would reelect him. Alex knew that the Crowned’s original goal was to take control of the White House and exert his power on the rest of the United States, so it made sense that he would wait until an election to set his plan—whatever _that_ was—into motion.

The authorities had been trying to track him down nonstop ever since he’d escaped from a high-security prison two years ago with the help of his lackeys; they hadn’t succeeded, and now, it was going to cost the whole country. How would the population react when their short period of turbulent peace was finally disrupted?

The Crowned hadn’t been blatant about his return yet, but he’d planted a seed of doubt by teasing the authorities as to it. From that point, rumors grew, and the people would grow paranoid. They would be in such a fragile state of resistance that it would be easy to impose fear unto them and use it to control them.

Alex shuddered. He didn’t like it when he didn’t feel safe, because if he, a _superhero_ , didn’t feel safe, that meant the people close to him weren’t likely to feel safe, either. If they did, it meant that they were unaware, which was just as bad as being paranoid. Alex knew that life could be taken away in an instant, and it was his job to prevent that from happening. It was his job to prove everyone’s fears wrong.

He couldn’t do that when his mother was sick, and he knew that hadn’t been his fault; there just hadn’t been any way to help her. Even so, it still felt like it was his fault. He never wanted to feel that way again.

It wasn’t until John asked, “Are you okay?” that he realized he was crying.

“Um, yeah, sorry,” he said, hurriedly drying his cheeks. “Anyways, I was thinking that everyone could hang out at Hercules and I’s house for the rest of the day.” When John raised an eyebrow, he elaborated, “Err, I live with him, but we’re not adoptive brothers or anything because his parents don’t have custody over me. I’m legally emancipated.”

Alex was thankful that John didn’t press. “I’ll have to ask my dad,” John told him instead, grimacing as he pulled out his phone. “The Schuyler sisters will be there, right?”

“Hopefully.”

“Okay, good enough for me. My dad doesn’t, um— He doesn’t want me alone with boys,” John explained. “He’s still convinced that I’m straight and only ‘acting’ gay to defy him, or whatever. He doesn’t want me doing anything risky that could endanger his reputation.”

“So he’s a horrible politician and an even worse father,” Alex summarized, shaking his head in disbelief. He hoped that John would get to see his mother again soon, whatever had happened between her and his father. The way John had told him what happened led Alex to believe that his mother served as a source of comfort for him, an escape from his father. At least, that was the most logical conclusion he was able to draw.

“Yeah,” John agreed with a shrug, “pretty much.”

John was about to put his phone away once he’d finished with his father, but Alex stopped him. “Wait, wait,” Alex told him, “let me get your number.” He pulled out his own phone and handed it to John so he could add his number as a contact. He took John’s phone so he could do the same. “Whatever you want your name to be, put it in all lowercase. I like to keep things casual. Oh, and I have to identify you by a specific emoji, so put the one you want after your name.”

Alex entered his name as ‘hamilton’ with the flying money emoji after it and handed John’s phone back to him, and when John gave Alex his phone, he saw that he’d put himself down as ‘john’ with the turtle emoji after it. “Nice,” Alex commented. He slipped his phone back into his pocket.

He saw John looking to the side and followed his gaze to see Eliza, Angelica, and Peggy joining them. “Alex, John! I’m glad you’re okay!” Eliza said with a smile, showing them her tray of cookies from earlier. “I saved the cookies.”

“You guys know what happened?” Angelica asked.

“They got Beta,” John provided. “The police, I mean. The Hurricane took care of him, I think. That’s what Alex told me.”

Angelica sighed. “This is awful. I hope the Crowned isn’t back.”

“We’ll be protected well, I’m sure,” Alex said as an attempt to quell her worry. “Anyways, do you guys and Lafayette wanna come home with me and Hercules?”

“That sounds good,” Peggy said. “We’re home alone tonight, so no one’s here to tell us we can’t.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea, Angelica!” Eliza encouraged. “We can have a study session together and watch movies after we do our homework.”

“As long as I get my work done without you guys distracting me,” Angelica consented with a slight smile.

“I’ll ask Lafayette if they can make it,” Eliza volunteered.

“No need. I am here, _mes amis_.” Lafayette walked up to the rest of them with Hercules by their side. “I can make it. Hercules, I hope your parents don’t mind that we are all ‘crashing,’ as the American teenagers say, at your house.”

“They’re fine with it,” Hercules waved them off.

John checked his phone. “My dad made some lame heteronormative sex joke and said that I could go,” John said, rolling his eyes.

“Let’s go, then,” Hercules said. “We can take Angelica’s car, but it might be a while before we can get out of the parking lot.” Alex looked to see that Hercules was right: after the police officer’s announcement, people had been rushing to drive home and subsequently caused quite a bit of congestion in the parking lot.

They ended up spending about ten minutes stuck in the parking lot, which Alex figured wasn’t bad at all, considering he’d expected the worst. They’d piled into the car, with Angelica (of course) in the driver’s seat, Lafayette in shotgun, Eliza, Alex, and John in the backseats, Hercules curled at Lafayette’s feet, and Peggy lying on the ground in the back staring at the car’s ceiling. It wasn’t the safest configuration, but it was all they could do without shoving someone in the trunk.

When they got to Hercules’s and his house, Mrs. Mulligan greeted them from the kitchen. “Hey kids, how are you?” she asked.

They all offered various answers.

“Why are you home so early? You aren’t ditching, are you?” She looked at them, raising an eyebrow. “No, of course not. Eliza would never ditch. What happened?”

“Attack,” Alex explained. “Demolition Beta attacked the school, and the police got to him after the Hurricane. They’re investigating the scene, so they sent us home.”

“Oh, that guy who attacked the city yesterday? Glad they put him away.” Mrs. Mulligan took out a milk carton and poured glasses for the seven of them. When she was finished, she looked up, gaze finding John. “Who’s this, Alex? Your new boyfriend? I swear, you need to learn how to keep it in your pants.”

Peggy and Lafayette started wheezing with laughter, and Eliza covered her mouth with one hand and Angelica’s with the other to keep the two of them from making any noise. Alex felt his face grow hot, and was suddenly painfully aware of John standing next to him. He answered without looking to see how John reacted to Mrs. Mulligan’s question. “No, he’s not my boyfriend. This is John, and I met him this morning after bowling him over on my way to the bathroom. We’re friends now.”

“Sure,” Mrs. Mulligan agreed, handing each of them a glass of milk. “John and I will get to know each other later. For now, you kids go somewhere quiet to do your homework. Like Alex’s room.”

“Why my room?” Alex pouted. “It’s not like _Hercules_ has anything to hide.”

“Do _you_ have something to hide, Alex?” John asked.

“Okay, shut up,” was all Alex said in response before leading them down the hall to his room.

“Flashcard time!” Eliza announced as soon as the seven of them found a way to sit on Alex’s bed without falling off.

“Please, no,” Hercules begged.

“ _Je ne parle pas anglais_ ,” Lafayette said.

“I already know them,” Alex and Angelica complained in unison.

“Do I even have to take the quiz? I’m new,” John reminded them.

“You’re obligated, nerds,” Peggy told them.

Fortunately, Alex was saved from having to participate in Eliza’s flashcard study session. Unfortunately, it was only because he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket, which meant that Washington was probably trying to get ahold of him. “Guys, I swear I’m not trying to get out of this, but I just remembered that some books I checked out from the public library are getting close to past due and I need turn them in today before it closes if I don’t want to be charged,” he lied quickly, hefting his backpack over his shoulder and jumping off of his bed.

“It’s okay, Alexander,” Eliza said, nodding in understanding. “I’m sure you’ll be fine for the quiz tomorrow either way.”

“Thanks, Eliza. Don’t go through my stuff while I’m away, okay?” Alex smiled, then walked out of the house down a nearby alleyway where no one would see him.

Alex had missed the call from Washington, but he called him back and Washington answered right away. “Alex,” Washington said to him when his face appeared on the screen, “listen. The intersection of Cherry and Cinnamon is under attack by the Duplicate, a villain who was previously confirmed as one of those who helped the Crowned escape from prison. He’s ravaging the entire street with his… well, duplicates. You’re going to have to contain him as soon as possible, because most of the police department is at Franklin High School preoccupied with investigating the site of Demolition Beta’s attack. It’s going to take them a while to get there. We believe Beta and the Duplicate’s attacks were coordinated to produce that dilemma.” He paused, and just when Alex thought he was about to hang up, he continued with, “Oh, and Alex, if you see Zero Frequency, try to find a way to get me in contact with him.”

Alex had been hoping he would keep avoiding that topic.

“Okay,” Alex responded reluctantly. “I’ll try.”

Alex hung up before Washington could say anything else. He most _certainly_ wasn’t going to try to do that. Forcing Alex to work with Zero Frequency would be the worst executive decision he ever made.

Alex put his clothes in his backpack, then pressed the button on his bracelet that would allow his suit to materialize. And then he was airborne, letting the wind carry away his thoughts.

He stopped to float above the intersection that Washington had named to survey the scene. Yes, it was definitely a mess.

Copies of the Duplicate were flying around all over the place, flinging virulent green energy everywhere. Whatever their attacks touched was corroded, rotted. Sidewalks crumbled underneath frantic pedestrians, paint melted off of cars in the streets, and the asphalt on the road flew away in the wind, reduced to dust. Alex could only imagine what those attacks could do to a human being if they made contact.

Alex landed on the corner next to a stoplight, and created a ball of wind around his body to protect himself. He took a deep breath, observing the chaos around him to see if he could recognize anything that would be of use to him. _If I find the original, will the other copies disappear when I put him out of commission? Or will I have to clean up?_ He frowned. _We need to minimize the damages as quickly as we can._

So he stood there and he watched, any blasts that came towards him slingshotted away by his shield. With all of the madness occurring around him, Alex started to realize that there was an undercurrent of serenity underneath it all, a strange quiet that was far more apparent than anything else happening. A calmness. He couldn’t quite place his finger on _why_ —

Ah, yes, _that_ was why.

Zero teleported next to him, turning to the stoplight on Alex’s right and ramming his fist into the pole. “Ow, god, _heck_!” he shouted, clutching his hand in pain.

“What did the stoplight ever do to you?” Alex asked in monotone.

“I knew I would land next to you, so I tried to punch you,” Zero explained. “As you can see, that didn’t work out in my favor.”

“Well, it worked out in mine.” Alex rolled his eyes. “Are you done here?”

“Patience is a virtue, my dear Hurricane. Though, it’s not very accurate of me to call you that. Slight Breeze would be more appropriate.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from that one.”

“Yeah, well—” And that was when Alex stopped paying attention to him. Not because he loathed him with every fiber of his being (though that was part of it), but because he caught eye of something in the distance: a green ball of energy, coming straight for Zero.

Alex’s first instinct was to act. So, he tackled Zero, shoving him a solid three feet away from where the blast had originally been aimed. Alex had landed on top of him, and from where he was sitting, he had a perfect view of Zero’s infuriating face. Alex tried to identify any features below his mask that might’ve led him to Zero’s identity.

However, as soon as Alex’s mind started to catch on to something, he immediately forgot the connection he was trying to draw. He looked up to see that Zero was staring straight into his eyes. _Um, h-his jaw,_ he thought desperately, trying to salvage his train of thought. But he just couldn’t remember; the thoughts he was trying to grasp were out of reach. Zero furrowed his eyebrows, like he could see that Alex was thinking about something.

“Hey, what the _fuck_ was that for?” Zero demanded, shoving Alex off of him.

_Oh, yeah, I just saved his life,_ Alex remembered. _Well, he’s still alive, if nothing else. Ungrateful because of his ignorance, nonetheless._

“Just… just _leave_ ,” Alex sighed, and even he could hear the unadulterated weariness weighing down the tone his voice took.

“Next time we see each other, don’t _touch_ me,” Zero spat, and Alex believed in that moment that the boy felt nothing but hate for him. He didn’t mind much, though, because the feeling was mutual.

Before Alex had a chance to get the last word, Zero teleported away. Alex expected the veil of peace to return to the atmosphere once Zero left, but strangely, it wasn’t there; instead, an emptiness remained, an eerie shroud of uneasiness that cut through his skin.

_“Don’t_ touch _me.”_

The words left a sick feeling in his stomach.

Alex tried to ignore it. _Focus on a pattern,_ he told himself, controlling his breaths. _See if you can find anything that can lead you to the real Duplicate._ He floated into the air to avoid getting hit and give himself a more inclusive view.

He stayed there, fully aware that every second he did, the people remained in danger. _Come on, come on, think. You’re a problem solver, Alex. You can do this._

And it clicked. Back towards the residential area near Cherry Street, one of the copies wasn’t moving. He was standing perfectly still wall the others buzzed around him, wreaking havoc on the city. _There. That’s the real one,_ Alex thought. _God, how did I not see him before?_

Alex wasted no time descending on him at full speed and full force. _I’m gonna knock the wind out of you._ His pun caused a grin to form on his face. _I love myself._

He kicked the Duplicate’s face into the sidewalk, then sucked the air out of his nostrils to send him into unconsciousness. Luckily for him, the Duplicate’s copies vanished when he went under. _I hope that hurt,_ he thought, encasing him in a ball of air to keep him from escaping.

He rushed off before anyone could interview or question him, back to the same alley he’d suited up in so he could change back into his regular clothes. Once he was back in his civilian outfit, he walked to the library, thinking about everything all the while. Why had Zero snapping at him left him so uneasy? How did Zero get to the scene so fast without Washington backing him? What did Zero mean when he said that he knew he would end up next to Alex? Why did Alex forget what he’d recognized in Zero’s face as soon as Zero looked into his eyes?

Above all, there was one question which was seared into his brain, ingrained into his subconscious.

Who _was_ Zero?

Alex hated him, but he recognized that there was something about Zero that made him want to learn his identity, his backstory. _Why_ was he the way he was? What powers did he have that Alex hadn’t yet seen?

Alex walked into the library, taking a seat at the back against the glass wall leading to its back garden. He pulled out his phone and dialed John’s number. Why John, he didn’t know. Maybe he was thirst-calling him.

“Alex?” John answered.

“Laurens, I need you to come to the public library as soon as possible. It’s 421 Olive Street. Look up directions on your phone, or whatever.”

“Is something wrong?”

Alex smiled. “Uh, no. Just get here as fast as you can. I’m sitting in the back against the glass wall, by the garden.”

Alex waited a total of five minutes before John got there and one minute before John found him. “How did you get here so fast? Did you sprint, or something?”

John gave a nervous simper. “I mean, you said to get here as fast as I could, so.”

“You didn’t have to run, John,” Alex laughed, looking him up and down. “Sit down. You look remarkably well for someone who just sprinted, like, three blocks.”

“Um, I guess.” John took a seat across from him. “So, why did you call me here?”

Alex cleared his throat. “John, what do you know about Zero Frequency?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ??¿¿¿!!¡!¡ WHAT  
>  also "thirst-calling" alex i think the phrase you're looking for is "booty call"


	4. We've Got a Big Mess On Our Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> title says it all lmao  
> aLSO FINALLY SOME PLOT DEVELOPMENTS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didn't mean to give john bpd and alex hpd when i was planning this story out but then this chapter happened so

_No. No, no, no._

As soon as John processed the words Alex had spoken, his brain became a mess of fear and paranoia. _He knows. He knows who I am, and he’s going to hurt me. Oh, god, he’s known who I am this entire time and he’s been trying to get me alone so he can kill me._ None of his predictions made any sense, and he knew that, but he went on thinking of them either way. A _what if?_ lurked in the back of his mind whose conviction was too strong for him to ignore.

A wave of déjà vu struck him. This feeling, it was the same that he’d experienced when the Hurricane had landed on top of him, _staring_ at him, with his eyes seeming to expose him. John shivered, burying the memory.

When he finally responded, he did so to distract himself, and thus, did so without thinking. “H-how do you know about him?” he asked.

Alex raised an eyebrow. “Um, he was in the paper this morning? You know, when America gets a new superhero out of nowhere, it kinda gets around.”

“Oh, yeah,” John said, cursing himself for his mistake. To be fair, though, he had no idea that he was in the paper.

“So, do you know anything about him?” Alex pressed.

“Well, I read the paper,” he lied, “so probably about as much as you do.”

Alex sighed, his disappointment apparent. “Ah, I was hoping you knew more about him. Either way, it doesn’t matter; I was just curious as to whether or not you knew more than I did. Sorry for putting you on the spot,” he apologized, and John felt himself relax once the fact that he was sitting across from _Alex_ registered.

_He’s not your father,_ John told himself. _You can trust him._ There was just something about Alex that made John feel safer whenever he was around him; he thought that fact odd, considering they’d only met that morning. Maybe it was just the natural effect Alex had on others.

“But that’s not the only reason I brought you here, obviously,” Alex continued. “I want you to help me find Zero Frequency’s true identity so we can get him on the Hurricane’s side.”

It was now apparent that Alex had no idea John was Zero Frequency, so instead of continuing to be fearful, he allowed himself to become nettled at the mention of the Hurricane. _No way I’m working with him,_ he thought. And then, he thought, _Wait, shit,_ because Alex was asking him, Zero Frequency, to help him discover Zero Frequency’s civilian identity.

He didn’t want to get involved in Alex’s proposed plan, mostly because its endgame involved him being in close contact with the Hurricane and because its means to that endgame involved him having to lie about himself to Alex. “Why don’t you just ask the police department or something?” John asked, desperate to sway Alex from his original plot.

“They’re bothered enough already with the Crowned being a looming threat,” Alex explained. “I figure that if I can take it into my own hands, it’ll save them a lot of trouble.”

“I don’t know.” John avoided making eye contact with Alex. “It could be dangerous. Alex, we’re only in high school. I just got here _yesterday_.” He was bouncing his leg up and down, and his hands were shaking now. _Please change your mind,_ John thought.

“Look, John, I know it’s a lot to ask, but… please? I trust you, and it would mean a lot to me if you helped me.”

And then, John started to feel bad for not wanting to go through with Alex’s plan, even though every ounce of logic he held told him doing otherwise would result in a very bad end. _He’s… he’s my friend, I can’t just outright refuse him,_ John thought.

“Okay,” John relented, “I’ll help you.”

He was going to regret this later. Eventually, he was going to dig himself into a hole that he wouldn’t be able to get out of because at that point all he would be able to do was lie. He was already having to lie now, but further down the line, lying would become the only solution. And the more he lied, the guiltier he would feel.

John mulled over his choices. If he told Alex that he was Zero Frequency, Alex would try to get him to work with the Hurricane. So telling the truth wasn’t an option. On the other hand, if John completely closed himself off from Alex and refused to participate in his endeavors, he would feel guilty. So _that_ wasn’t an option, either. What else was there other than to just go along with Alex’s plan and hopefully dissuade him along the way?

_He manipulated you into agreeing,_ a little voice in the back of his mind said. _He’s only known you for less than a day, and he already knows how to play into your emotions._

_Stop,_ he told himself. _Alex doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would do that._

Alex spoke in response to John’s agreement, bringing him back to reality. “Great!” Alex grinned. “Where should we start?”

“Well, you’re the person who came up with the idea. Did _you_ have any ideas about where to start?” John didn’t mean to sound so rude, but that was just how things came out when he got defensive.

“Yes, actually,” Alex responded, paying no attention to John’s tone. “I’m not sure if it was reported yet, so I don’t know if you know this, but there was an attack at the intersection of Cherry and Cinnamon. I heard the commotion and investigated out of curiosity, and I saw the Hurricane and Zero Frequency at the scene together. On Sunday, Zero Frequency was also reported as being at the scene of the attack, even though the paper said that the Hurricane wasn’t.” Alex raised his eyebrows, like he was expecting John to come to the conclusion he wanted to get across by himself.

_He saw me,_ John thought, then tried to settle the alarm rising in him. _He saw me, but he didn’t_ know _it was me._

John turned his attention back to the significance of Alex’s statements in relation to his plan. “Okay. Most of that’s common knowledge, or will be soon, I guess. What are you trying to get at?” John asked. He wanted to know what Alex was up to as soon as possible so he could think of a way to cover for himself.

“Zero Frequency has been confirmed to be at the scene of every attack that’s happened since Sunday, except for the attack at the high school, which the police haven’t released details about yet,” Alex continued. “What I’m saying is, if we catch him in the aftermath of the next attack, we can get a statement from him, or something, that could lead to his identity.”

“Alex, that’s dangerous,” John disputed immediately. “Both of us are just ordinary people. Going out there could get us killed.”

“Right, right,” Alex agreed. “But if we figure out Zero’s identity and get him working with the Hurricane, it could save the city and even the _country_ later on.”

“Sure. Risking our lives for the well-being of our country. There’s nothing more noble,” John commented flatly.

Alex smiled, and John felt a twinge in his stomach. “The next time there’s an attack, I’ll be there for certain. I just have a way of finding trouble, you know?”

John did, too. He’d always had a homing device for danger embedded in his instincts; it was a facet of his powers, he knew. But recently, that homing device had become much stronger and much more accurate; whenever the Hurricane was around, at least. John found that odd, but right now, that was the least of his worries.

“You don’t have to come along if you don’t want to, John. I know it’s a lot to ask of someone who barely knows me.”

_I’ll be there, either way,_ John thought, already starting to regret his decision to go along with Alex’s plan. Out loud, he said, “Okay. You sure you’ll be alright going in by yourself?”

“I’ll be fine.”

It took until the end of the school week for another attack to occur, and all the while, John was anticipating it. So at about seven P.M., when John was home alone after school and got the telltale feeling that signified to him that the city was in danger, he didn’t hesitate to jump into action. In fact, he was already sitting on the couch in his suit, casually eating a slice of white bread to quell his anxiety.

He got up, tossed the half-eaten slice of bread onto the kitchen counter, and teleported away.

John landed in the middle of an abandoned warehouse. At first glance, it appeared that no one was there, but John’s instincts told him otherwise. Carefully, he paced forward, the floorboards creaking underneath him. The warehouse was so dimly lit, he could hardly see where he was going. As he walked, he cast shadows on the walls that he tried not to let jitter him.

He jumped when he heard the front doors slam open, but just rolled his eyes when he looked behind him to see the Hurricane strutting into the room like he owned the place.

_God fucking damn, not even_ one _second of peace and quiet,_ he thought, turning back around. He felt the Hurricane walking up next to him, but he ignored him as blatantly as possible.

“Again, how’d you get here so fast?” the Hurricane asked.

John didn’t answer.

“How did you know where to go?” he continued. “Do you have, like, a sixth sense? And how do you know that you’re gonna end up near me, like you said earlier?”

Jesus, with Alex and now the Hurricane trying to learn so much about him, John felt like he was being accosted on all sides. He didn’t like people knowing things about him, even if Zero Frequency was a secret identity and he was supposed to act like it _wasn’t_ him; he wasn’t too keen on revealing anything to the Hurricane especially, because as far as he was concerned, the Hurricane was his enemy and anything John revealed to him could be used against him.

The Hurricane went on, and with every question, the idea of punching him became a little bit more appealing. “Why did you choose to become a superhero, anyway? Why now? Are you even from D.C.? Do you—?”

“God, do you ever shut up?” John cut him off.

The Hurricane shrugged. “No. Actually—”

“It was a rhetorical question, asshat,” John said before the Hurricane could continue.

“I was just going to offer an explanation.”

“Listen,” John said, “just don’t fucking talk to me right now. We’re in the middle of a dark warehouse, I can’t see shit, and I have no idea where the fuck the guy I’m supposed to be fighting is. I have no idea _who_ the fuck the guy I’m supposed to be fighting is.”

“I don’t know either,” the Hurricane provided.

“That’s helpful,” John muttered.

“Well, it’s not like Washington was clear when he briefed the situation for me,” the Hurricane shot back. “He just told me to show up here. I assumed based off of his tone of voice that something was very wrong, but it doesn’t look like anything’s happening—”

Conveniently, right as the Hurricane was saying this, the lights flickered out, leaving the both of them in complete darkness. _Maybe if he’d shut up, that wouldn’t have happened,_ John thought, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the further lack of light that had just been thrust upon them.

Instead of letting his fear take over, he tried to think about other things. _Alex said he would find a way to get to the scene of the next attack. I wonder if he’s been hiding around here and I just didn’t see him. He wouldn’t be that reckless to stay inside, would he? If he is inside the building, I hope he doesn’t get hurt. Or even better, I hope he leaves before a fight breaks out. I would never be able to live with myself if he ended up being a part of the collateral damage._

Thinking wasn’t doing much to help him calm down.

“God, this sucks,” John said, taking deep breaths to steady himself. His hands were trembling like they did whenever he got nervous, and he was shivering. He hated this, because it made him feel weak. _Wouldn’t it be great if I had a panic attack in the middle of an abandoned warehouse with the worst person in the world three feet away from me and an unknown enemy lurking in the shadows?_ he thought. _Yes, it would be the best possible outcome. God, pull yourself together, Laurens._

John didn’t have much time to do that, though, because a second later, a ray of pure white energy shot into the space between him and the Hurricane. John tried to make out where it came from, but he had no success in doing so; it was impossible to see anything inside the warehouse.

An unfamiliar voice pierced the darkness. “A miss, unfortunately. You can’t see me, but I can’t see you, either! Though, I suppose that’s all part of the fun, isn’t it, boys?” A giggle followed, bouncing off the walls to create an ominous echo.

The next ray landed closer to John, making him inhale sharply. “Gotcha!” the voice sounded once more, and the next ray that was fired came straight towards him.

John ran, all the while more attacks being fired at him in rapid succession. He couldn’t see where he was going, and he knew that if he fell, his attacker would have him. Because it was the first solution that came to mind, he teleported, hoping his attacker wouldn’t be able to find him after the fact.

He landed on top of the Hurricane. “Christ!” the Hurricane shouted in surprise, immediately throwing John off of him.

“If you two learned to stop talking, maybe it wouldn’t be so easy to find you!”

Another attack accompanied the statement, and John pulled the Hurricane out of the way, sending the two of them tumbling back to the ground. Their attacker’s blasts started moving in the opposite direction in an attempt to find them again, so John took the opportunity to send the Hurricane a heartfelt message.

_Shut the fuck up,_ John told him telepathically.

_Rude,_ the Hurricane responded. _Since when were you a telepath?_

_Since I came out of the fucking womb,_ John answered.

Their attacker had started to catch on that their blasts weren’t making any contact with their targets, so they shifted their pattern of attack to continue in the opposite direction, towards John and the Hurricane. John pulled the Hurricane up off the ground and started to say, _I think we should—_ but was cut off immediately.

_I can fly us around the warehouse so we don’t make noise with our footsteps,_ the Hurricane suggested, and John wanted to strangle him for interrupting him with a plan that was so obviously shitty that it dumbfounded him.

_I think you’re forgetting the fact that I can fucking teleport._

_Well, sure, if you’re gonna be a jackass, then go ahead, do it yourself._ My _help obviously isn’t wanted._

_Excuse me?_ You’re _the one who interrupted me in the first place! Get over yourself._

“You guys are yelling,” their attacker complained. “I can hear you from all the way over here.”

_Fuck it,_ John said, teleporting away from the Hurricane. He wound up on the ceiling, clinging to a pipe for dear life.

He could hear the Hurricane’s wind, could follow the path he was taking by listening to him. He’s so arrogant, John thought as he watched the attacks follow the Hurricane with startling accuracy. _I hope he realizes that he should’ve listened to me. His pride is going to be what causes his ultimate downfall. For the city’s sake, I hope that happens later than sooner._

John sighed, allowing himself to space out. The Hurricane could very well take care of _himself_ , as far as he was concerned. For now, John was safe, so he figured he had a little panic-free time to himself that he could enjoy (or garner something as close to enjoyment as possible in their current situation).

_I know Alex is here, wherever he is, but I wish he wasn’t. I shouldn’t have agreed to his plan in the first place,_ John thought. _For one, he’s putting himself in danger. For another, I’m going to have to lie to him the entire time about who I really am. I guess I got myself into a mess, didn’t I?_ He wanted to laugh at how stupid he had been for getting himself into a situation he could’ve avoided, but he remembered there was someone that was likely trying to kill them in this room and that he couldn’t give away his position.

When he did give away his position, he blamed the Hurricane for it.

Eventually, the Hurricane got hit; John could see his masked face illuminated as the light struck his arm. “Shit!” the Hurricane yelled, and John was startled so badly that he let go of the pipe and fell straight into the floor. He didn’t have enough reaction time to catch himself by levitating, so he landed at full force and made quite a distracting noise when he did.

“Aha!” their attacker called. “I’ve got the both of you!”

It was only a moment later that John was hit with a blast directly in the chest. He gasped for air in the seconds after, trying to recover from the initial impact and breathe through the burning sensation it left on his skin. His suit felt undamaged in the area the blast had hit when he reached to feel it, if that offered him any consolation.

The lights clicked back on, and John could hear footsteps. He blinked, sitting up through the pain, and saw a figure headed towards them. Once John’s eyes returned to focus, he was able to make out the figure in full detail and recognize his identity immediately: he was quite feminine in his facial structure and build, dressed in a ridiculous red and white supersuit that drew too much attention to his crotch to be practical. In his left hand, he carried a golden, jewel-encrusted scepter, and atop his head was perched a red, sovereign crown that served as the tacky icing on the cake. Of course, John knew who this was, and comprehending what his presence here meant for the rest of the city made him nauseous.

This was the Crowned, and he was in D.C. after two years of being unattended.

The Crowned grinned. “I’m back, boys. Miss me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES,,, MY QUEEN HAS ARRIVED  
> also, a question: do you guys want to see more of the side characters, or less of them? let me know pls


	5. Apogee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yikes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY LATE JEFFERSON AND ADAMS DEATH DAY EVERYONE  
> it's the fourth of july and what am i doing? writing gay fanfiction. what else is there to do  
> \+ thank you guys for the positive feedback, it really means a lot to me!

Well, _this_ was shaping up to be a horrible situation.

What had Washington been _thinking_ , sending him here where he would be alone (well, except for Zero) in a dimly lit room with the world’s most dangerous supervillain? What did Washington expect him to _do_ , _capture_ him? On such short notice, with no preparation and no authoritative assistance?

Once he took a moment to take everything into consideration, Alex came to the conclusion that Washington had to have had no idea that the Crowned was the one Alex would face in the warehouse. Washington wouldn’t send him into something this perilous without warning him beforehand. Alex immediately felt bad for even putting blame on him in the first place.

Alex couldn’t believe things were going _this_ terrible for him. In addition to the Crowned’s unexpected return, there was the fact that he’d neglected to think through most of his plan before persuading Laurens to help him with its execution. After all, Alex was _the Hurricane_. It wasn’t as if he could arrive at the scene of an attack as a civilian; he wouldn’t have a way to defend himself. And he couldn’t ask Zero personal questions up front as the Hurricane and expect a clear answer, because Zero hated his guts. Even better was that asking John for help was a problem in and of itself. He’d apparently forgotten that John wasn’t a superhero like he was, and had _consequently_ forgotten that asking John to come to any scene would be putting him at risk of getting injured or worse. Alex had quickly made up for it by saying it was okay for John to stay home while he went, but now he realized that John wouldn’t be engaged _enough_ due to his retraction.

So why had Alex even asked John to help in the first place? Well, he was guessing it probably had something to do with his _massive crush_ on him.

_John’s not here, you can worry about him later,_ Alex told himself. _Right now, you have a job to do, and that job involves saving the world. Which is more important than your love life._

Alex looked up to see the Crowned advancing, twirling his scepter as he moved towards him and Zero. When he was halfway between the two of them, he stopped, letting out an airy sigh. “Come on, boys, lighten up a bit. It’s not like I’m seeking to uproot the American government and instill a dictatorship with me at the head by terrorizing the populace and attacking prominent political figures. I don’t know where you would’ve gotten _that_ idea from, it sounds absolutely _heinous_.” He paused. “No. I’m going to get the two of you out of the way and _then_ uproot the American government and instill a dictatorship with me at the head by terrorizing the populace and attacking prominent political figures.”

“How long did it take for you to memorize that grammatically confusing run-on sentence?” Alex heard Zero ask from across the room.

The Crowned gave a flourish of his scepter, and another blast of light hit Zero squarely in the chest; where he’d been hit before, Alex noticed. “About fifteen minutes of the two years I spent in prison,” the Crowned answered, casually examining his nails. “But I really shouldn’t be complaining. People spend their entire lives rotting in places like that for doing less than what I did.”

Zero opened his mouth to say something, but the beginnings of his reply turned into a cry of pain. The Crowned stared at him with a look of mock sympathy and said, “I apologize for that. Though, it’s in my predictions that you’ll learn faster than _that_ one that it’s in your best interests to shut your mouth.” He gestured towards Alex when he referred to him as ‘ _that_ one.’

Alex sat up once he had enough strength to support his weight. “I would take my own advice, if I were you. Maybe if you stopped _monologuing_ for a second—” He didn’t get to finish, because there was a flashing light, and the next thing he knew, the Crowned had hit him in the abdomen. He fell down again, and though he tried to retaliate with a rather weak shot of wind, the Crowned effortlessly stepped out of the way.

God, the Crowned’s attacks hurt like a bitch.

“Have you ever considered not thinking so highly of yourself?” the Crowned asked.

“Have you?” Alex shot back, praying the Crowned wouldn’t shoot at him again for his retort.

Luckily, he stayed still, lowering his scepter’s trajectory to the ground. “No. Because unlike you, I have a reason to.”

Alex felt his skin prickle with anger. _How_ dare _he insult me by comparing me to himself?_ he thought, getting up on his feet. _I’m nothing like him. I could never be a_ villain _._ Alex summoned enough energy to send another blast in the Crowned’s direction, this one stronger than the last, but the Crowned sidestepped once more.

“I’d been hoping that America’s newest superheroes would be as formidable as the General, but it seems like that’s not the case,” the Crowned sighed.

This guy _really_ knew how to push his buttons, didn’t he?

Alex had always carried Washington’s legacy with pride, with honor; now this man, a _terrorist_ , was doubting his ability to do so? It was irreverent.

_He’s a villain. His opinion doesn’t matter,_ Alex tried to convince himself. Even so, the Crowned still deserved to eat shit.

Alex sent out a round of attacks, but he was too weak for them to do anything more than toss the Crowned’s hair around in the wind a little. “I’ve decided that I like the other one better than you,” he told Alex, “because he doesn’t try to fight back when he knows the situation is helpless. Anyway, I do wish you’d stop trying to save yourself. It’s putting a damper on the expediency of my plans.”

Before Alex could say something in reply, the Crowned raised his scepter. It acquired a white aura, and when the Crowned pointed it at the back wall, Alex turned around to see what he was aiming at.

The doors. They swung shut, the area around each door individually surrounded by the same aura as the Crowned’s scepter. _We’re trapped,_ Alex realized. _He’s trapped us. He’s going to kill us, or worse, kidnap us and use us as bait or forcibly turn us against the public._

“Your friend over there’s taken care of,” the Crowned said, nodding in Zero’s direction, “but I’ll have to take _you_ out before I can take you away. You’re much more pleasant with your mouth shut.”

And then the attacks were coming again, and Alex had to run through his pain. _I can’t make it much longer,_ he thought. _He’s going to get me if Zero doesn’t teleport us away. God, I hate asking for his help, but doing that is better than falling into the hands of the Crowned._

Alex sprinted towards Zero, who was still lying on the floor, as fast as he could. “Zero,” he said once he reached him. “I know you hate me, but—” His breath hitched when a blast hit him in the back, and a shroud of lightheadedness started to cloud his consciousness. “—you have to get us out of here.”

_I thought you didn’t_ want _my help,_ Zero projected. Even though the tone of his voice had been bitingly sarcastic, Alex looked to see that his expression was blank and his eyes were clouded over.

“Now’s not—” Another hit to the back, and Alex was starting to feel like giving up. “—the time to be petty. Please, teleport us anywhere away from here.”

When Zero responded, it was out loud. “I-I can’t,” he said, struggling to get the words out.

“P-Please,” he managed as another attack landed a hit to his shoulder blade. “You’ll be fine once we get out. You still have the strength to do it, I know you do.” As he was saying this, two more blasts hit him, and his body finally gave out. He fell forward, landing with his face in Zero’s chest. He fought to maintain consciousness, but he barely had enough energy to keep his eyes open.

“Okay,” Zero said, gripping Alex’s forearm with one hand and placing the other of the small of his back.

Alex waited, with the sound of the Crowned’s footsteps echoing in the background. _Come on, Zero,_ he begged internally, his stomach dropping. He had broken out into a cold sweat, and there was a sharp pain in his back that he felt whenever he breathed. _If he doesn’t get us out in time, then we’re through._

The three seconds he waited were the most agonizing three seconds he’d ever lived through, but once they were over, he felt a cold sensation cover his skin and knew from the difference in temperature that he was safe. He let a wave of relief flood through his body. They were okay. _He_ was okay.

Zero hurried to sit up, which forced Alex to do so as well. “Where are we?” Zero asked in a weary voice, staring vacantly at his surroundings.

Alex blinked. They were sitting in the middle of a winding stone pathway, surrounded by flowers and greenery. Paper lanterns hung above them, strung from tree to tree and casting their soft light on the ground in combination with the moon’s. A gentle, floral aroma hung in the air around the two of them, making Alex want to close his eyes and drift off to sleep. Night had fallen, so he could see fireflies buzzing around them, moving erratically in the shrubs.

“The garden behind the public library,” Alex offered once he remembered that Zero had asked him a question.

“It’s pretty,” Zero commented distantly. “I would consider this romantic if we didn’t fucking hate each other.” He started to laugh, but caught his breath and doubled over in pain.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked, and he tried to put a hand on Zero’s shoulder, but Zero shoved him away.

“I _told_ you not to touch me,” Zero snapped.

_Moment’s over, I guess,_ Alex thought. He stood up and said, “Fine, keep your goddamn bruised sternum. I’ll stay out of it. See you around.”

He stumbled back through the library, holding onto the bookshelves for support. The library hadn’t closed, so he assumed it was still seven or eight o’clock. People inside stared at him, but no one tried to approach him, and for that, he was grateful.

_Now for the trip home,_ he thought. _It’s only three blocks. If I hide in the alleyways, it’ll be fine._

During the walk home, his pain subsided substantially, and all he was left with were dull aches in his back. He sneaked into his room through the window, checked to see if Mr. and Mrs. Mulligan were home, changed, and walked into the living room to greet Hercules.

“I didn’t hear you come in,” he said, looking up from his History book. “Where were you?”

“The library,” Alex explained. “Wanted to research for the project I have in AP Chem.”

“You have technology. You didn’t need to go all the way to the library,” Hercules pointed out.

“I like the atmosphere,” Alex said with a grin. When he noticed that Hercules was dressed in different clothes than he had been during the school day, he looked him up and down and asked, “Well, where are you headed off to tonight?”

“Laf wanted to go to the bowling alley with me.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “Is anyone else coming?”

“No.”

“Then it’s a date. Lafayette is taking you on a date.”

“It’s not a date.” Hercules crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

Alex shrugged. “Whatever you say. But it’s still a date.”

At that moment, the doorbell rang, and Hercules said, “Well, would you look at that, it’s time for me to leave. Have a good time spending your Friday night alone.”

As Hercules walked out the door, Alex called, “Have fun on your _date_!”

Hercules flipped him off.

When he heard the door click locked, Alex went back to his room and pulled out his phone to get his mind off of the situation. He failed miserably. He let himself sink into his own thoughts, like he did far too often for his liking.

The Crowned was back, there was no doubt about it; Alex had seen him with his own eyes. He decided that when Washington called him next, he would tell him everything that happened, but no sooner. Alex needed to rest, and he didn’t want Washington telling him anything that would plague his already burdened mind.

Since the Crowned was back, that meant that the real challenge was about to begin. Alex had fought minor villains and put away criminals, but no one he’d faced before had strength that compared to the Crowned’s. His attacks were destructive; Alex had only stayed conscious after taking so many because he had a high tolerance for pain. Zero had fared worse. Not to mention that the Crowned had a squad of dangerous villains on his side that was a too much like an army in the way he could strategically coordinate their attacks to be as ruinous as possible. The only way he would be able to get him locked up again was by working as closely to Washington as possible and making sure Zero stayed out of things he had no place in.

Zero. Why did Alex want to know so much about him? Alex hated him, and Zero hated him back, so what else was there to dig into?

Alex turned his attention back to his phone when he heard a text notification sound, thankful that something was there to bring him back to reality. The text was from John.

**john:** can i come over?

Alex shot him a text back.

**me:** sure! mr. mulligan isn’t home because he’s probably working late, but mrs. mulligan is asleep upstairs so you’ll have to be quiet. do you know where my house is?

Alex waited about a minute for the reply.

**john:** I know how to get there  
**me:** any reason why you wanted to come over?  
**john:** not really ;))  
**me:** dude i forgot it’s the weekend we can have a sleepover!!!!!  
**john:** yeah!!!!!!  
**me:** are you sure your dad’s okay with it

No reply. Alex assumed John was on his way.

Ten minutes of worrying about the future of the country _later_ , Alex heard the doorbell ring, and he couldn’t help but smile. It was only after he’d waited that he realized he was so excited to see John after such a physically and emotionally taxing night. He jumped off of his bed, rushing to the front door. A list of movies to watch was already forming in his head.

Alex opened the door, and just as he was about to greet John, he was stopped short; when Alex saw him, his breath caught in his throat. John’s hands were trembling at his sides, and his eyes were red and puffy. There was a bright red mark on the side of his cheek that looked like it would form a bruise by the end of the night, but the rest of his skin was ashen and pale. His hair was down, stuck to his forehead with sweat at the front.

John saw Alex’s concern and gave a weak smile to cover for it. He started to say something, but Alex finally got a hold on what he was seeing and spoke first. “Come inside.” When John didn’t move, Alex grabbed him by the hand and led him to his room.

_I’m seriously going to kill whoever hurt him,_ was the first thing Alex thought when they sat down on his bed, perhaps a tad irrationally.

He waited until a few moments of silence had passed between the two of them before asking, “Laurens, what happened?”

“Nothing happened,” John assured him. “I’m fine.”

Alex took a deep breath. “Laurens, please tell me what happened. I want to help you.”

“I came home late, and my dad got mad at me. That’s all. He got mad at me, so I came to stay at your house for the rest of the night.”

“Your dad got mad at you, and he hit you,” Alex filled in.

John leaned forward a little and laughed, but it looked forced. “My dad didn’t hit me, Alex.”

“Laurens, it’s right there on your face. Who else could’ve hit you?” Alex shifted uncomfortably where he was sitting, then extended an arm to wrap around John’s back. John got visibly more nervous when he took the action, so before he made contact, he asked, “Can I?”

John gave a small nod. “Sure,” he said in a quiet voice, and Alex let his arm rest on his back with his hand on John’s shoulder.

“Look, Laurens, I’m not going to force you to talk about anything you don’t want to,” Alex told him. He tried to look John in the eye, but John was staring at the carpet, avoiding eye contact. “But I need to know if you’re okay.”

John stared off into the distance a little while longer, then turned to hug Alex and buried his head in his collarbone. It wasn’t until his breaths started becoming shaky and irregular and he started whimpering into his shirt that Alex realized John had started to cry. And Alex thought, _Oh my god, what am I supposed to do?_ because John felt so fragile in his arms, like if Alex did the wrong thing he would break him.

So Alex just sat still, not attempting to make any further moves to comfort him. He stayed in that position until John calmed down and went silent, his breathing having returned to an even pace. “I’m okay now,” he whispered, then pulled away.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Alex asked.

“No, not right now,” John told him. He smiled, and Alex felt his stomach twist. The blood in his body rushed to his cheeks, and the rest of his skin prickled in protest of the cold sensation that came over it as a result.

John’s stupid loser smile.

_It’s nighttime,_ Alex thought, carefully outlining John’s face in his mind, examining it with his eyes. _Shouldn’t the sun have gone down by now?_

“I like your hair down,” Alex said, because he’d survived a battle with America’s most wanted supervillain and managed to keep John Laurens in once piece through his emotional breakdown, so screw it. He was too tired to make use of his speech filter. “I don’t think you’ve ever worn it that way before. It’s pretty. You’re pretty.”

“Oh, thanks,” John laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

A long period of awkward silence followed in which the two boys did nothing but smile at each other.

“So,” Alex said finally, “do you wanna watch a movie before we go to bed?”

“Yeah, that sounds cool,” John agreed. “Which one did you want to watch?”

“You can never go wrong with _Birdemic: Shock and Terror_.”

Alex reminded himself to ask John about what had happened in the morning. When there would be two suns in the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> but soft! what light through yonder window breaks? it is the east, and laurens is the sun!  
> (fun fact: i once wrote 44 pages and 12,000 words of sci-fi au mercutio x benvolio fanfiction and turned it in as a grade)  
> remember kids, "pretty" is one letter away from "petty"  
> next chapter will have more gayness but on eliza's part


	6. Eliza and Hercules Get Significant Others

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> that's when miss maria reynolds walked into my life  
> she said,  
> "who the FUCK is eliza and HOW did she beat my score"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for transphobia & mild abuse mention??? jic  
> eliza AND hercules are very gay in this chapter  
> also!!! maria has short hair because i just reALly wanted her to be soft butch  
> \+ lisa, if you're reading this, i love you!!

John didn’t _mean_ to come to Alex’s place, but when he teleported after running out of his house, he’d ended up on Alex’s front porch. And really, all he’d wanted to do was get away from his father for the rest of the night, so he’d decided to make the best of the situation and ask Alex if he could stay. Alex said yes, so John went along with it.

But of course, of _course_ John hadn’t waited long enough for the effects of his trauma to subside before ringing the doorbell. Alex noticed, of _course_ he had. John didn’t want Alex to notice; he just wanted him to continue on in blissful ignorance so the both of them could be happy in each other’s presence. Truthfully, John didn’t want Alex to know _anything_ about him, or about Zero. And that was a hard thing for John to deal with, because he really liked Alex and he really wanted the two of them to be friends.

John knew what would end up happening between the two of them: Alex would willingly let John into his life, but John wouldn’t do the same, and after a while of trying to get him to, Alex would just give up and stop investing himself in him. Really, it was nothing new. John never gave away the parts of himself he still had, and people never cared enough to ask him for them after being denied so many times. They just used him, and when it wasn’t convenient for them to associate with him anymore, they left.

More than John hated people for doing things like that to him, he hated himself for getting attached to them, for carrying the hope that someone would stay. He hated his self-pity most of all.

They were sitting on the couch in the living room when Alex spoke to him next.

“Laurens,” Alex began, “are you cold? I can get some blankets, if you want.”

John was cold, but only now did he realize that it was bothering him and that he was shivering. “Yes, please.”

Alex left and returned with a wool blanket, which he tossed in John’s lap. “Do you want to sit on the couch or on the ground?” he asked as he put the movie in.

“The couch is fine,” John said, wrapping the blanket around himself. He wished the headache that remained after crying so hard would go away, and that he would stop having to snivel whenever he took in a breath.

Alex sat back down next to him once he’d started the movie and asked, “Have you ever seen this movie?”

“No, but from the opening credits, I can tell you made the right decision,” John remarked, marvelling at the already shitty cinematography. “What’s a Birdemic, anyway?”

“Something that doesn’t happen until forty minutes into the movie.”

“Why so long? Unnecessary romantic subplot?” John guessed.

“Amongst other things,” Alex confirmed.

“Does this movie have a gratuitous PG-13 sex scene?”

“You bet.”

“And a nonsensical plot?”

“Uh-huh.”

John grinned. “Sign me up.”

Just over a half an hour later and John was laughing his ass off with Alex, revelling in what a masterpiece this movie was. Truly, it had it all: impossibly wooden actors, terrible sound editing, bad CGI, a director who had no idea what a shot was, and plot that didn’t make sense to bring the entire clusterfuck together. It was a B-movie to the core, and watching it, John felt alive for the first time in his life.

“I should tell my dad to get rid of all his guns. All he needs to defend himself is a coathanger,” John said after watching a particularly amusing scene in which the main characters dramatically fought off CGI birds with rather interesting weapons.

He and Alex started laughing again, but Alex stopped abruptly when his phone went off. He took a quick glance at it and said, “Sorry, Laurens, I gotta take this really quick.” He paused the movie, then went into his bedroom to take the call.

John thought nothing of it, but after a few minutes of Alex being in his room, he started to hear unintelligible shouting; it wasn’t particularly _forceful_ shouting, but it brought him back to what happened before he’d ended up at Alexander’s house.

The whole thing flashed through his mind in a series of fuzzy voices against blurry backdrops, an _“I told you to be home on time for dinner, Jack”_ followed by a string of _“I’m sorry”_ s and _“Please don’t hurt me”_ s that faded into obscurity, ignored. Shouting and fear and adrenaline and panic, then nothing but the slow tune of the wind blowing through the trees. A change of scenery as he ended up in a familiar place.

John had been crying through most of it, so what he did remember was hazy and indistinct. But one thing that stood out to him was the look on his father’s face when he’d raised his palm to hit him. He’d never seen someone look so _hateful_ before.

Alex barged into the room, bringing John back to the present. “Come on, John. We’re leaving.” He grabbed a jacket from where it was resting on the kitchen counter and put it on, then picked up a key ring resting nearby and shoved it in one of the jacket’s pockets. As Alex waited by the door, he was fuming; his mouth was set in a hard line, and his eyebrows were drawn together in the beginnings of an angry frown.

“What happened?” John asked, joining Alex by the door. _Did I do something wrong?_ John pondered, feeling his throat start to close as a result of his anxiety. He didn’t like seeing Alex angry, because it reminded him vaguely of—

“Lafayette and Hercules are on a date at the bowling alley slash arcade, and some guys were making Lafayette uncomfortable by staring at them,” Alex explained, his expression relaxing. “They started harassing them, calling them slurs, and Hercules tried to get them to stop, but they’re not leaving Laf alone. So he called me and the Schuyler sisters to come over. He told me to bring you, too, so I’m dragging you along.”

“That’s awful,” John commented, and he meant it. It genuinely blew his mind that people could be so _stupid_ and harass others for no reason; it was especially shitty, because Hercules and Lafayette were on a date and supposed to be _enjoying_ themselves.

“I know,” Alex sighed. He led John into the driveway, unlocking the red car parked there and buckling himself into the driver’s seat. “Mrs. Mulligan won’t mind that we’re taking her car, especially after I explain everything to her,” Alex told John once he took shotgun and put his seatbelt on.

“Okay.” It wasn’t like John could say anything in protest, because there weren’t any alternatives to driving that would get them there in time (John was guessing, since Alex had gone immediately for the car). “As long as you have your license.”

“I turn seventeen in January, John. Obviously I have my license.”

Alex was older than him, big surprise there. John was fifteen and turned sixteen at the end of October; because his birthday was so late in the year, he was younger than nearly everyone in his graduating class. “As long as you’re driving _legally_ , I guess. And _safely_ —”

John cut himself off when Alex swerved out of the driveway, shooting down the road with the tires screeching as he accelerated.

“Alex, please, I don’t want you to get pulled over, I’m too young to die—”

“Laurens, calm down. I’m not going faster than the speed limit right now.”

John had a hard time believing that. As they made their way out of Alex’s neighborhood, he said, “O-okay, but just be aware. You could get into an accident, and you could hurt someone—”

“John,” Alex said when they thankfully reached a stoplight, turning to look at him. “We’re fine. Nothing’s gonna happen to us. I know what I’m doing.”

John took a deep breath and nodded, putting his eyes back on the road. But apparently, Alex was still staring at him, because he didn’t react to the light changing. “Alex,” John said to get his attention, looking back at him.

A pleasant, almost dreamy smile formed on Alex’s face. “Hmm?”

“The light’s green.”

Alex’s attention snapped back to the road, and he slammed on the gas just as people behind him were starting to honk. “Yeah, yeah, _fuck_ , I know,” he whispered to himself, honking back a few times.

“Alex, please pay attention. If you miss another light _I will die_ ,” John told him. He was a control freak when it came to driving; every movement the he (or the driver, if he was a passenger in the situation at hand) made had to be perfect, or else it would make him nervous.

“I told you, I know what I’m doing,” Alex assured John as he raced over a speed bump at about 30 MPH. “Besides, it’s not very far. We’ll get there soon, I promise.”

_This is the worst thing I’ve ever been through in my entire life,_ he decided, even though that definitely wasn’t true. In the moment, though, with his anxiety returning and the panic rising in his chest, it _felt_ like it. He controlled his breathing by inhaling, holding his breath, exhaling, and repeating in attempt to calm himself.

John thought it would never end, but eventually, they found themselves in the parking lot of a building that simply advertised itself as _The Bowling Alley._ “We’re here, I hope,” John said once he had a chance to catch his breath.

“Yeah,” Alex replied, rushing out of the car. “Hurry up, Hercules told me the Schuyler sisters aren’t here yet.”

John nodded, hopping out of the car after locking the door. He went with Alex inside the building, following him closely due to his lack of familiarity of the layout.

John had no idea where they were going, so he decided to zone out as they walked. John observed his surroundings, and immediately noticed that they were very aesthetically pleasing. The bowling alley was built against the building’s back wall, while arcade games were hooked up against its front wall. The floor was covered in a black carpet with glow-in-the-dark stars patterned over it, and the ceiling was made out of matte black panels with reflective shards embedded in them to mimic the night sky. Blue and pink oblong lights ran along the walls of the arcade, offering a dim source of light to where the two of them were walking; in contrast, the bowling alley was completely lit.

When Alex and John were close to reaching the end of the building, John saw Hercules and Lafayette standing by the bathrooms. They were being confronted by a group of three men who looked to be in their twenties. On the outside, Lafayette didn’t look that fazed by the situation.

Someone who looked to be the group’s leader began to speak, but he didn’t seem to notice Alex or John approaching. “How’d you figure out which bathroom to use, tra—”

“Don’t finish that sentence with the word I think you were about to finish it with,” Alex interrupted, stepping in between Lafayette and the group leader. He paused to take a deep breath. “Look, I know some people in the world are just going to be assholes, and I’m not going to get mad at you for being one. But I’m going to have to ask you to stop ruining everyone’s night with your assholery.”

The leader’s nostrils flared, and John wasn’t sure he was ready for a fight to break out. “I’m gonna—”

“How old are you?” Alex cut him off.

“Why should I tell you?”

“How old are you?” Alex repeated, this time more forcefully.

“Twenty-three.”

“Alright. Now, my dear friend, here,” Alex began, gesturing to Lafayette, “is a minor. It appears that you’ve been making obscene and dare I say sexually charged comments towards them. This is considered harassment. Now, as I’m sure you’re aware, harassment is considered a misdemeanor—”

“Woah, woah, woah.” The leader raised his palms up defensively. “We were just looking to poke a little fun at him— she, it, whatever. Just looking to have a good time.”

John could see that Alex was working hard to keep calm. “I’m afraid that if your ‘good time’ comes at and from the expense of others, you’ve got to find a different way to have it. I’m going to take Lafayette to the food court, and I’ll expect that you won’t be harassing _them_ any further,” Alex finished, ushering Hercules and Lafayette away from the three men.

Once they found a seat at a table near the food court, Alex asked, “Laf, are you alright?”

Lafayette shrugged. “Alright enough. It pains me to say it, but that situation is not a unique one for me to be in.”

“I’m sorry your date turned out so shitty,” John offered.

“It’s _not_ a date,” Hercules insisted.

“Alex told me it was a date.”

Hercules slowly rotated his head to face Alex, giving him a painfully stiff smile. “Alex. It’s not a date.”

“Call it whatever you want,” Alex said, “but at the end of the day, it’s a date.”

“ _Fine_ , it’s a date!” Hercules confessed, throwing his hands up.

Lafayette turned to look at Hercules. “I didn’t know you wanted it to be.”

“Well, um, do you?” Hercules asked, rubbing the back of his neck. “Want it to be, I mean.”

“Hercules, I asked you on the date, of course I want it to be.”

“So are we, like, a thing?”

“Now we are.”

Alex stood up and started clapping at this new development. He blew a kiss towards the sky, then said, “Oh, Lord, thank you for helping these two idiots realize their affections for each other! Since the eighth grade I’ve been watching them flirt as awkwardly as flirting can get, and only now did they get somewhere with it. Thank you for putting me out of my misery.”

“Alexander, sit down, you are causing a scene.” Lafayette told him.

“Alright, I’ve said enough,” Alex agreed, taking a seat.

Just as Alex sat down, Peggy came bursting through the doors, Angelica and Eliza following closely by. “Where are the assholes?” Peggy asked rather loudly, balling their fists. “They’d better be done with Lafayette or so help me _god_ , because I am going to ram my agendered fists into their faces.”

Alex waved the Schuyler sisters over to their table. “Guys, guys, come over here. We’re all cool now, it’s good.”

“Are you sure violence isn’t necessary?” Peggy asked before sitting down along with their sisters.

“I’m sure, Peggy. I implied that I was going to press charges on them or something, and they left after that,” Alex explained.

“Nice, nice. Though I still think the situation could’ve used a little more punching.”

Eliza scooted in closer to Lafayette, wrapping her arms around them and resting her head on their shoulder. “Oh, honey, are you okay?” she asked with a concerned frown.

“I am fine, given the situation was nothing new for me. Now that all of you are here, tonight will be better.”

“Aw, Laf, I’m sorry we couldn’t get here faster,” Eliza said. “We had to mind the traffic.”

“Which Alex didn’t do,” John reminded him.

“Did I not get us here in once piece, Jonathan?”

“That’s actually _not_ my name.”

“Whatever.” Alex rolled his eyes in mock exasperation, which made John stifle a laugh. “Anyway, Lafayette, do you want to go home or stay here?”

“Staying would be good,” Lafayette responded. “We can play at the arcade for the rest of the night. Or however long you want to stay.”

“This place is open all night,” Hercules pointed out.

“It’s the weekend. I say we _do_ stay here all night,” Alex suggested.

So that became the plan: stay at the arcade until the place closed at 2:00, then drive back home.

And it was going really well. For Eliza, at least. And some of the others. But mostly Eliza. John learned that night that he sucked at arcade games and there was absolutely no hope for him to improve.

“Alex, you see that one?” Eliza asked, pointing to a retro shooter game they were about to pass on the way to get more game tokens. “I have the high score on that one.”

“Woah, nice,” Alex commended her. “I’m trying to get on the leaderboard of every single one before we leave.”

The three of them walked past the machine, but they stopped when they heard the person currently playing it shout, “Who the _fuck_ is ‘Eliza’ and _how_ did she beat my score?”

Eliza froze, a horrified look on her face. She slowly turned around to face whomever was speaking, and Alex and John followed suit.

The girl standing at the machine had short, curly black hair styled in an undercut, and John thought she was comparable to Peggy in her facial structure. She was wearing high-waisted mom jeans, a white shirt that read _FUCK THAT, GET MONEY_ in black lettering, and Doc Martens. As Eliza turned around, the girl made eye contact with her, and her expression of frustration disappeared.

“Hi,” Eliza greeted quietly. “I’m Eliza.”

“Oh, um, hi!” she held out her hand for Eliza to take. “I’m Maria.”

Alex took John a few steps back, slinging an arm around his shoulder. “Listen, John,” he whispered, “this is gay.”

John watched the conversation play out.

“Sorry, I just got, um, unnecessarily angry,” Maria said.

“It’s okay,” Eliza replied with a smile, folding her hands together. “I, uh, I like your shirt. I love The 1975.”

“Hey, me too! Well, duh, I’m wearing one of their shirts. What’s your favorite song?”

“I like ‘She Lays Down,’” Eliza answered.

“Nice, nice. I like ‘Menswear’ and ‘Me.’ And ‘Sex.’ I’m sorry, I can’t pick just one,” Maria apologized with a laugh.

“This is beautiful,” John whispered to Alex.

The conversation progressed to a point where Alex and John were buzzing in anticipation as to whether or not the girls were going to ask each other out. _I need to see the lesbians get together,_ John thought. _Already I am so invested in their relationship._

Finally, Maria asked, “Hey, can I get your number?”

“Um, yeah!” Eliza said, hurriedly pulling out her phone so the two of them could enter their numbers into each other’s contact list.

Alex and John started silently freaking out.

“Alex,” John said.

“John,” Alex returned.

“This is the purest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I know.”

“Alex.”

“John.”

“I am going to cry tears of happiness.”

Alex was going to respond, but Eliza and Maria approached the two of them. “Maria, this is Alex, and that’s John. Alex, John, this is Maria.”

“Nice to meet you!” Maria smiled.

“Okay, Maria, I’m gonna try and find my other friends to introduce you to.”

“I’ll come with you!”

Eliza and Maria left, and Alex and John were alone together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can i get a yell heah for abrupt chapter endings?????  
> disclaimer: i know no songs by the 1975 but it fits with maria's aesthetic for her to like them i guess lmao  
> the next two chapters after this might be really mundane, depending on whether or not i decide to follow what i have planned, but i promise what happens will be important to the plot!!


	7. Evening Out With Your Girlfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gayness and jealousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the S L O W E S T burn  
> also, if you guys are wondering how long this is gonna be, i have it planned out to be thirty chapters. pray for me

_I want that,_ was the first thing Alex thought when Herc and Lafayette announced that they were together, and once he saw Eliza and Maria together, he realized, _I want that with_ John _._ And here, standing next to him, Alex thought about how easy it would be to just ask, or make a move, or something that would at least let him know if he had a chance. But tonight wasn’t the night to do that, because he wanted to give John space after what happened earlier. Or, at least, what he assumed happened earlier.

When Alex looked at John—and maybe it was just the superhero part of him talking—he felt an overwhelming urge to protect him. Well, really, he wanted to protect all of his friends, but with John, there was a part of him that wanted to _comfort_ , emotionally connect with him in addition to that strong need to protect. For Alex to understand John on that emotional level he wanted to, John needed to open up to him.

_I won’t push him,_ Alex decided, _but I really want him to talk to me about what happened. And make out with me. And maybe suggest that we adopt a corgi or a samoyed later down the line._

Alex stared at him for a long time, continuing to do so as John pulled his phone out of his pocket to check it. “What’s up?” he asked when John’s expression of contentment wavered.

John took a deep breath, then replied, “Nothing,” shaking his head.

_Does he trust me?_ Alex wondered. _I want him to trust me, for his sake; it doesn’t seem like there are a lot of people he does. I just want to be there for him._

Alex sighed. “John, please tell me.” _I’m asking because I care, but maybe that’s a hard thing for him to believe in the first place._

“My dad apologized,” John explained slowly. “He asked me where I was and said he would like it if I came home.”

“Do you still want to spend the weekend at my house?” Alex asked.

He nodded.

“Then tell him you’re here with your friends, and mention the Schuyler sisters so he doesn’t get suspicious,” Alex advised. “Say you’re going with _all_ of us to stay over at my house for the rest of the weekend.”

“I’ll tell him I need time away from him,” John murmured, mostly to himself. “Usually he’s nicer when he wants me to accept his apology.”

_His father’s damaged his trust,_ _and it would be selfish of me to think that I could repair that damage, but I at least want to try,_ Alex thought.

John waited for a response from his father. When he got one, he looked up and said, “My dad says that’s fine. As long as I get home.”

Alex stood there in silence for a while, then finally, his curiosity got the better of him. “John, do you want to go outside or something and talk about what happened?” He realized that he’d told himself he would wait until morning to question John further, but he really couldn’t help but ask.

“I’ll go outside with you,” John agreed, “but I don’t know if I want to talk about it yet.”

_That’s a start, I guess,_ Alex thought as the two of them went outside, behind the building. He leaned against the back wall, sticking his hands in his jacket pockets to keep them from getting cold. He lost himself in his surroundings, in the chilled night breeze and the distant sounds of cars passing by on the road behind them and the fuzzy lights he saw in the distance.

“Smoke break.”

Alex turned to look at John, whose head was tilted towards the sky. “What?” he asked.

“We’re on a smoke break,” John clarified absentmindedly. “Metaphorically. You know, because life is so tiring.”

Alex was going to ask why John chose to bring that up at that moment, but then John changed the subject. “The stars are really pretty.”

“Just like you.” Again, Alex had reasons for not utilizing his filter. Besides, John walked into that one on his own.

“Thanks.” When John spoke, he still sounded like he was off someplace else, thinking.

So Alex went to his someplace else, too.

He wanted them to confess their feelings to each other in the most cliché way possible. He wanted them to have their first kiss in the rain, and he wanted them to spend their first date stargazing with him being too busy admiring John’s freckles the whole time to focus on the sky. He wanted them to fall asleep making out half-clothed, then wake up the next morning tangled in each other. He wanted the first thing he saw every day to be John’s smile.

John lowered his gaze. “My dad hit me earlier tonight,” he admitted. “But don’t worry about it. It’s not something he does often.”

“How often does he do it?” Inside, Alex was thinking, He doesn’t deserve this. This is abuse, and he puts up with it without saying anything.

“I think the last time was in June when I was working on my Art final all night instead of studying for my Math final. He told me to like, grow some common sense or something, and I kept working on it, so he hit me. It didn’t hurt, though.”

_Doesn’t matter if it hurt or not,_ Alex thought, _he still hit you. God, I wish we could do something about it, but if we tried, people wouldn’t take him seriously. Besides, the abuse is more mental and emotional, from what it looks like. There’s no physical evidence to support that._

“John,” he said, “let’s go back inside.”

As soon as they got inside, Alex’s phone started ringing. “I’m sorry, John, but I’m gonna go outside again to take this.”

_Fuck,_ he thought as he rushed back to the spot where they had just been to answer Washington’s call.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get ahold of you sooner,” Washington apologized, “but I’m glad you’re okay. What happened in there, Alex? Our surveillance cut out when the lights did.”

Alex mentally prepared himself for a moment before giving Washington the news. “Sir, the Crowned’s back. He attacked Zero and me in the warehouse, and he tried to kidnap us, so we had to run away. I’m sorry we didn’t stay to fight back.”

“No, _I’m_ sorry for sending you out there without backup. I should’ve been more cautious,” Washington apologized. “Alex, for now, I don’t want you worrying about any of this. That’s what the Crowned wants; he showed up to scare you, put you under stress. You’ll be more ready for his next attack if you don’t think about him at all.”

“I’m not _going_ to give the Crowned what he wants,” Alex declared. “And I _will_ be ready for the next attack.”

“Stay safe, Alex. Take care of yourself.” With that, Washington hang up on him.

It wasn’t very hard for Alex to keep himself from thinking of the Crowned when he had his mindlessly self-indulgent fantasies of John to rely on.

They stayed at the bowling alley until 1:30. In the time they were there, Maria introduced herself to everyone, and Herc and Laf told the group about their relationship status. Everyone went home after lounging at the arcade a while longer, and at 2:45, Alex and John fell asleep with Alex on the couch and John in Alex’s room.

Alex spent the entire week after that pining after John. The Friday after the gang spent the night at the bowling alley, Eliza came up to him at lunch with a proposition.

“Alex, I have something to ask you,” she said, sitting down next to him. Alex was always the first one to get to the amphitheatre, so right now, they were alone.

“Okay, sure,” he said, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“As you know, I am a lesbian,” Eliza began. “Maria is also a lesbian. We like each other a lot.” Maria had been spending time with them at lunch and in the morning once Eliza learned she went to their school, so the natural progression of their relationship made sense. “Maria wants to take me on a date tonight, but I’m scared that what happened to Laf last week will happen to us. I told her, and she said that we could go on a double date with two of my guy friends in case that ever happened. You know, so we could pretend that we’re heterosexuals. I already asked Herc and Laf, but they said they were already going somewhere tonight. I was wondering if you and John wanted to come with us?”

_Yes yes yes yes yes,_ Alex thought. _I desperately want to go on a date with John, and this way, I don’t have to make it look like I do._

“I would,” Alex replied, “but I’ll have to ask John. Where did you and Maria want to go?”

“Um, she was thinking we could go to that café down the street, and then go to some of the antique shops and the used bookstore nearby.”

“Sounds nice,” Alex commented. “I’ll ask John as soon as he gets here.”

Maria and John arrived together after Herc and Laf had already sat down. Maria took a seat between Eliza and Lafayette, and John sat down next to Alex.

Alex leaned forward and raised an eyebrow suggestively, then spoke in the most seductive voice he could manage. “So, John—”

“Maria already told me she wanted me to come,” John interrupted. “I’m guessing Eliza asked you?”

“Yes.” Alex raised a leg in the air. “So it’s a date, then?”

“Shut up.” John pushed Alex’s leg back down, laughing when Alex winked at him. “You know we’re just going along with them as friends, though, right?”

“Right, right,” Alex agreed, with some reluctance. Quite a bit of reluctance.

After school, Maria dropped everyone off at their houses to get ready, then swung by at 4:30 to pick them up.

“You look nice,” Maria commented to Eliza, who was dressed in a simple, dark green, knee-length dress with three-quartered sleeves and black flats.

“Thanks!” Eliza smiled, walking inside as Maria held the door open for her. “I’ll pay for you guys, okay?”

“Are you sure?” Maria asked.

“Eliza’s dad is rich,” Alex explained to Maria off to the side. “Paying for all of us won’t hurt her very much.”

“Of course,” Maria laughed.

“What do you guys want?” Eliza asked. “I’ll go up there by myself, you guys find a table.”

“I’ll have a coffee,” Alex said.

“I’ve never been here, so get me whatever’s good and doesn’t cost too much,” John shrugged.

“Me too,” Maria chimed in.

“Okay!” Eliza went up to order, excitement evident in her gait.

Alex found a booth near the back of the café and sat next to John, while Maria sat across from them and waited for Eliza.

“Okay, I got us all cookies, and Maria, I got you raspberry tea. I got John green tea,” Eliza said as she slid in next to Maria. She put her purse on the table and continued, “And I brought frosting for us to decorate our cookies with.” She turned her purse upside down, and about twenty tubes of different colored frosting fell out. Once all of the frosting had emptied out of her purse, she stuck her wallet back inside.

“You bought us cookies. And brought us frosting to decorate them with,” Maria repeated.

Eliza nodded vigorously.

“God, I love you,” Maria said, hugging Eliza and laughing as she peppered little kisses on the bridge of her nose.

_Would John let me do that?_ Alex wondered. _God. I just want to… I want to kiss all the freckles on his body. I want to hold him. I want to make him feel safe. Fuck, man._ He felt his face heat up and struggled to stifle his thoughts so it wouldn’t show.

Alex sank further into his gay pit of suffering as Maria and Eliza continued to talk amongst themselves.

“Eliza!” a voice from the front called.

“Oh, our order’s ready!” Eliza jumped out of her seat and rushed over to the front counter to pick up their things.

She returned with a basket of sugar cookies and a cardboard cup holder that held four drinks. She placed the basket in the center of the table, then handed everyone’s respective drinks out to them.

Maria took a cookie from the basket and a tube of red frosting. With it, she spelled out the word _GAY_ in all caps on her cookie.

“Why did you put that?” Eliza asked.

“You are what you eat,” Maria shrugged, taking a sip of her tea.

Alex stared as John took a cookie and the tubes of green and dark green frosting. He found himself smiling as he watched John in the process of decorating it; his expression of concentration made Alex’s heart beat faster. Looking at the way his eyebrows here slightly drawn together, at the way his tongue poked out of his mouth to the side, Alex found himself flooded with happiness. _I can’t look away,_ Alex thought.

Honestly, he was ready to scream. Everything, all of the thoughts swirling around in his head, they all came back to one question: why wouldn’t John open up to him?

Alex understood that John needed his privacy, and he understood that it wasn’t his place to push John into telling him things that would make him feel uncomfortable. But he also had an overwhelming _want_ to know everything about John that was constantly bothering him. He had an overwhelming _want_ to know John better, to understand why he closed himself off. To understand John himself. He wanted to give every part of himself to John, and he wanted John to do the same when he was ready.

John looked up, and Alex turned to look at John’s cookie before John could see that he’d been staring. John had drawn a startlingly realistic portrait of a turtle raising an index finger and opening its mouth in questioning. “That’s the most beautiful turtle I’ve ever seen,” Alex commented to diffuse the silence. The obnoxiously flirty part of him considered whether or not he should add an _Almost as beautiful as you,_ but the logical part of him decided against it. He continued to suffer.

“Thanks,” John laughed. “Too bad I’m gonna eat it.”

“Shame.” Alex took a cookie for himself from the basket and a tube of black frosting.

Carefully, he wrote, _John Laurens, you are a beautiful human being and you deserve the utmost happiness_ and signed the message with _A. Ham._ He passed it to John, who looked surprised that it’d ended up on his side of the table. “You can have mine. I’m not hungry,” Alex explained.

“Sure,” John shrugged. “Oh, you wrote something on it,” he realized as he received the cookie, reading the message. He blinked once he’d finished, looking up at Alex. “That’s really nice of you. I’m gonna keep it,” he decided. “It’s gonna rot away in my fridge until the end of time.”

“I’ll get a box for you,” Alex said, going up to the front counter to ask for a pastry box. As he was walking back with it, he couldn’t help but think, _He really appreciated the sentiment._ The thought made him smile.

“Eliza, what did you put on yours?” John asked once he’d sealed his and Alex’s cookies in the box.

“I broke it in half, and I kept one piece and Maria got the other one. I drew her and she drew me, and we’re gonna glue them together again with more frosting so it looks like we’re holding hands,” Eliza answered.

Once again, Alex’s envious gay thoughts attacked him from all sides.

_I wish I could hold hands with him,_ Alex thought. _I wish we could stay up all night listening to old records and songs we picked out that reminded us of each other. I wish we could write love letters to each other every day and leave them in each other’s locker. I really want us to date._

“Should we just take our drinks to the used bookstore instead of waiting here to finish them?” Eliza asked when she finished decorating her cookie.

“I’m good with that,” Maria decided.

“Me too,” Alex said.

“Whatever you guys wanna do is fine by me,” John said. “It’s your date.”

“Right, then, let’s go.” Eliza started shoving the frosting back into her purse.

They didn’t get to go to the used bookstore, though.

As soon as Eliza stood up, a flash of orange passed through the center of the store, landing a hit on the booth behind them and causing it to go up in flames. _Demolition Beta should be in prison,_ Alex thought when he recognized the blast. _How is he attacking the café? Unless he broke out._ Several more blasts rained down through the ceiling with the same effects, and people in the café rushed to evacuate.

_Am I gonna have to suit up?_ Alex thought with worry. _Maybe I could hide in the smoke, but it wouldn’t be the best way to help keep my identity a secret in such close proximity to my friends._

He sprinted through the café, trying to keep an eye on everyone, when his phone started going off in his pocket. He decided to ignore it. _I’m already here, Washington, I know the building’s going up in flames. Jesus._

He was finally able to catch his breath when they made it out onto the sidewalk. Demolition Beta was nowhere to be found. _A hit and run?_ Alex wondered. He shook his head, trying not to devote too much of his thought to it. _We’re okay._

“Alex?” He looked over to see John, staring at him with obvious panic in his eyes. “What just happened?”

“We were attacked, but it’s fine now,” Alex explained. “You’re fine, John. Everything’s fine.”

Eliza shook her head. “Everything’s _not_ fine,” she whispered, and looking around, Alex could see that she was right. “Maria’s not here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tag yourself i'm maria's cookie  
> and if you've ever seen the game grumps play pokémon art academy, what john drew on his cookie is basically ross's hyperrealistic drawing of squirtle


	8. Let's Hear It For America's Sweethearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i promise it's all important to the plot

“Oh my god,” Alex whispered to himself. “I can’t believe I forgot about Maria. How did I let her get out of sight?” He immediately felt guilty that he hadn’t been more attentive.

_I could go inside,_ Alex thought. _There might still be a way to get her out of there if she’s still inside._ And because he was good at rushing into things without really thinking them through because they seemed like good ideas at the time, he bolted inside the burning building, with Eliza screaming protests at him the entire time.

Had he gone inside burning buildings before? Yes. Had he ever done it to save his best friend’s girlfriend? No. So the urgency he normally would’ve felt in this situation was increased by tenfold, and rightfully so. _If she’s still here, I have to get her out. I’d never be able to forgive myself if I didn’t,_ he reminded himself. He wanted to take a deep breath to calm himself but decided against it, seeing as the place was filling up with smoke.

Once he got into the thick of things, he realized that he wasn’t wearing his supersuit, and he felt the effects of its absence as soon as he reached the center of the café. It was hard to breathe—it would’ve been like that even with his suit on—but instead of his skin being protected from the heat, it felt like it was melting off. _You just have to stay in here long enough to see if Maria’s still here,_ he told himself, running to the back of the café where they had been sitting. He figured that maybe they’d lost her from the beginning, and no one noticed because of their initial fear of the situation.

Along the way, he didn’t see Maria passed out on the floor like she would’ve been if she stayed inside too long, and he didn’t see her anywhere when he got to their table. Really, no one was inside the café, so that led Alex to what he considered to be the only logical conclusion: everyone had escaped, and Maria had made it out, just not with them. His subconscious still held some doubt, but he ignored it and went back outside, thankful for the stream of fresh air that entered his lungs.

He was met with a frantic John and a sobbing Eliza. “What the _fuck_?” John asked. “Why did you go in there? Alex, you could have _died_ , and— Oh god, I never would’ve seen you again— Fucking _why_ did you think that was a good idea?”

“You couldn’t get her,” Eliza managed between shaky breaths. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”

Alex wasn’t good at comforting people, especially not two at once, but he pulled the both of them in for a hug anyway. “She wasn’t in there at all. I didn’t see her. She must’ve left through some other door, or something. No one was left inside.”

“Okay,” Eliza agreed, sniveling a little. It was evident that she was trying hard to keep herself from crying.

“Alex, seriously,” John continued, “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you’d ended up dying in there. Please, for the sake of everyone, think a little before you go off and do something stupid.”

Alex felt his stomach drop at John’s words. _I don’t know what I would’ve done if you’d ended up dying in there,_ he repeated in his head. _God. I’m sorry, John, I didn’t realize._ He said in a quiet voice, “I didn’t know you would be that worried. I’ll think it through the next time. Promise.”

John looked up at him and smiled, and it only reinstated what Alex already knew: that he was fucked. “Good. Doing stupid shit is what gets people killed.”

The three of them stood together in silence for a long while before something moving in the distance caught Alex’s eye; hold on, was that Maria? It looked like her from where he was standing. Maybe she’d found them.

As she got closer, Alex realized that the person jogging towards them was indeed Maria, and felt relief overtake him when he did. He nudged Eliza, whispering, “Eliza, look. Your girlfriend’s back.”

Eliza’s head shot up, and when she saw Maria, she screamed and ran over to her. The two of them met in an embrace, with Maria pressing kisses to the top of Eliza’s head. “Oh my god, I thought you had burned alive!” Eliza laughed once they’d joined Alex and John. “Where did you go?”

“I went out the back door and ended up in the parking lot,” Maria explained.

“…Back door?” John blinked in slight confusion.

“Yeah, it was, like, right behind where we were sitting.” Maria raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you guys didn’t notice it.”

“Uh.” Alex rubbed the back of his neck.

“Anyways.” Maria shook her head. “Once I realized our date had been ruined by the forces of evil, I also went back to my car to get this.” She showed Eliza a silver chain from which hung a red crystal. As she strung it around Eliza’s neck, she said, “I was gonna give it to you at the end of our date, but it looks like our date’s pretty much over now, so I figured now was as good a time as any.”

Eliza covered her mouth with her hands, practically shaking with excitement. “Oh my god… you didn’t have to, Maria. God, I have to pay you back, I can’t just let you spend this much money for me—”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Maria assured her with a wink. “It was free.”

“Maria. Please don’t tell me you stole this necklace.”

“What?” Maria asked, then broke out into laughter. “No, that’s not what I meant! That necklace was mine to begin with. I thought it would look nicer on you than it did on me.”

“That’s so sweet of you,” Eliza said with a smile.

_I hate myself for being so jealous of them,_ Alex thought when a vague feeling of resentment not directed at anyone in particular rose from within him. _But I want to be happy, too._

“Should I drive you guys home, now?” Maria asked.

John gave a nod. “Sure. There’s really no reason to stick around.”

“I’m cool with going back home,” Alex shrugged. “Do you remember where our houses are?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Maria glanced around. Ambulances and firetrucks were starting to arrive at the scene. “Let’s get out of here before there’s too much traffic. After what happened today, I’m guessing the both of you want to get home as quickly as possible.”

“I certainly wouldn’t prefer staying here,” Alex said.

“Let’s go, then,” Eliza agreed.

And they all went back into the parking lot to get in Maria’s car, ignoring the beautiful scenery formed by the building on fire in the background.

Alex was the first one to get out of the car, because he lived closest to what used to be the café. “See you later, nerds,” he said, then got out of the car.

The first thing he did once he got in the house was go in his room and call Washington back. When Washington answered his call, he immediately apologized, “Sir, I’m sorry for not acting, but I was on a date. At the café that got attacked. And Demolition Beta didn’t stick around long enough for any of us to see him or where he was going. So I trust you’ll understand that I wasn’t really able to do anything about the situation.”

“I understand. It’s not that big of a deal, anyway; the damage was contained, and the attack stopped before anyone was injured,” Washington explained. “But there’s something else I want to talk to you about. You see, originally, I was calling you to tell you about the attack at the café, but since then, something important has come up.”

“Um, okay. What is it?” Alex asked, preparing himself for the absolute worst.

“You realize that the only person who could’ve broken Demolition Beta out of prison is the Crowned, right?” Alex nodded. “Good. Well, we think the Crowned is going to break the rest of his lackeys out soon, and organize an attack on both the city and the White House. Now, we have no idea when this is going to happen, but since he’s only broken Beta out of prison, we assume it’s not going to be soon. Even so, I want you to try to get Zero Frequency on our side when the time does draw near.”

Great. Alex wanted so badly to say, “You don’t understand, sir, I can do this on my own,” or better yet, “With all due respect, sir, he doesn’t know what he’s doing and I don’t think it would be the best idea for him to interfere with our mission,” but he knew Washington would criticize him for being unwilling, say that it was just a personal matter and that he needed to give it up.

Wait.

No, there was no way he could let his grudge against Zero go, not as long as Zero kept fucking everything up and taking everything for himself. Zero had no place rubbing his filthy little hands all over Alex’s city. Over the _Hurricane’s_ city.

“We’re trying to install a protective shield over the White House—a forcefield, if you will—in preparation, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to construct it in time, so we’re going to need all the help we can get,” Washington went on. “Promise me you’ll try to get him on our side.”

“Sure.”

“Alex, please. This is important.”

“I already said I would when you asked me before,” Alex pointed out, happening to remember at that moment that the agreement he was referencing had been a huge—albeit brief—lie just to get Washington off his back. “You can trust me, sir. I promise.”

Washington nodded. “Good. I know you have the country’s best interests at heart.” He paused before continuing to speak. “Another thing: back when the Crowned was first on the rise, our surveillance picked up footage of him travelling back to the same general area after each one of his attacks. Of course, our cameras weren’t as widespread back then, so we didn’t know where he was going specifically, but we had a hunch that he was returning to some sort of secret base. If we notice the same pattern with him this time, just be prepared to be sent in. He could be keeping all of his allies down there, and busting them all at once would be preferable to letting them wreak havoc on the city and taking them down one by one.”

_At some point, I’m going to be in the heart of the Crowned’s operation,_ Alex realized. _In his base, his home territory._ Alex didn’t want to admit it, but he was fucking _terrified_ , both of what might happen to him in the process and of the possibility of him completely fucking things up. _If the country loses me and Zero, all they have left is Washington, a fortysomething_ retired _superhero who is currently occupied as the President of the United States._ _Oh, god, I can’t fuck up—_

“Alex?” Washington interrupted his thoughts. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, dad, I’m fine, I just—”

Alex cut himself off when he realized what he’d said. _I just— I just called him my dad, oh my god._ He hurriedly apologized, “God, I’m so sorry, sir, Mr. President, Mr. Washington, whatever you want me to call you, it just slipped out and I didn’t mean for it to, really, I—”

“It’s fine, Alex,” Washington said with a smile, “I don’t mind if you call me that.”

“Really?” Alex asked, his voice taking a hopeful tone.

“Yes, really.”

Washington had always been sort of a father figure to him, he supposed, ever since he’d taken him under his wing; having their relationship verbally validated by Washington felt good, and now that Alex knew he was allowed to openly acknowledge it, he was already more comfortable in Washington’s presence. “Oh, um, thanks. I guess I’ve always wanted to call you my dad.”

Washington was about to respond to something that was most likely relative to the current topic, but stopped himself when something on his right hand side caught his eye. “Alex, Demolition Beta is attacking near the residential area on the corner of Black and Elm streets. Get there as soon as possible, and like always, resolve the problem as quickly as you can. Keep in mind what I told you about Zero Frequency, too. Go, and make me proud, son.”

Alex beamed. “I will,” he promised, then hung up.

Fuck, he was _so_ ready. He took off his clothes, pushed the button on his bracelet, and watched as his suit formed around him. Ready, he thought, leaving through the window in his room instead of the front door in case Mr. or Mrs. Mulligan had walked into the living room in the time since he’d come home.

When he arrived at the scene, which had already fallen into complete chaos, Zero was there, trying to get an attack off on Beta. When Alex saw him, he immediately remembered what Washington had told him about getting Zero on their side with some mild degree of disgust (not for Washington, but for Zero). _I’ll talk to him later about it,_ Alex decided, since he knew he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to blow Washington off _again_.

“You’re here,” Zero acknowledged whilst dodging an attack from Beta. “I’m surprised I got here before you.”

“So am I,” Alex muttered. He noticed that their banter had taken on a tone that was more casual than the one it was usually characterized by. “Promise you’re not gonna fuck anything up for me this time?”

“I never have. That’s always been your fault,” Zero said as he sent two consecutive sonic waves in Beta’s direction. As Beta dodged one, he ran into the other one.

Alex couldn’t even force himself to get angry because all of his anger was gone, apparently used up in their previous interactions; in its place was a dull, sticky feeling in his chest that Alex decidedly labeled as numbness. “Right,” Alex sighed, knocking Beta over with a shot of wind to his stomach.

“You don’t seem like yourself today,” Zero pointed out, firing another sonic wave at Beta when he tried to sit up. “Something wrong?”

“I don’t know,” he said, taking Zero by the hand and drifting with him over to where Beta was sprawled out on the ground. “It’s just… I’m not angry, you know? Usually when you say something shitty and insufferable, I get angry. But I’m not.”

“I’m sure you’ll find it in you at some point.”

Alex felt his phone going off in one of the pouches secured to his belt. “Hold on. Make sure he doesn’t get away. I’m getting a call.” He reached to pull it out, then halted when a thought crossed his mind. _What if he’s somehow able to recognize me by my phone case?_ In response, he thought, _No, that’s impossible. I have, like, the most basic phone case ever to exist. Probably three people in my friend group have this phone case or some color variation of it. It’s no big deal._ With that, he pulled out his phone to see Washington calling him again.

“What is it, dad?” Alex asked.

Zero peeked over his shoulder. “Did you just call the fucking _President of the United States_ ‘dad?’”

Alex waved him off. “Go watch what’s-his-fuck. I told you to make sure he doesn’t get away.” When Zero rolled his eyes and went back to ‘guarding’ (a term that was used loosely, seeing as Demolition Beta wasn’t doing anything to try to escape) Beta, Alex turned his attention back to Washington.

“Son, listen carefully,” Washington began. “There’s another attack going on right now. Is Zero with you?”

Alex nodded.

“Good. Tell him to get to the shopping mall on Willow and Corkwood. The Duplicate is the one attacking.”

“Zero,” Alex called, “the President wants you to teleport to the shopping mall on Willow and Corkwood.” He gave Washington a thumbs up, then hung up and put his phone back in its pouch.

“I thought you told me to stay here and make sure he doesn’t get away.” Zero stared at Alex accusingly.

“Okay, but the President’s word overrules mine.”

“Good point,” Zero said. “What’s going on at the mall?”

“A loser who calls himself the Duplicate is attacking,” Alex explained. “He’s the guy that makes copies of himself and attacks with, like, shit that causes the absence of life.”

“I know. I was there when you fought him.”

“Actually, you left before I took him out,” Alex reminded him.

“True, true.”

“Anyways, the thing about him is that you have to look at what he’s doing from above,” Alex explained. “One of the duplicates you’ll see won’t be moving, and that one be a duplicate, but _the_ Duplicate, you get me? You take him out and all the others will just disappear. At least, that was the way it was when I fought him. If he hasn’t changed anything up since then and you take him by surprise so he doesn’t have a chance to fight back, it should be really easy for you to knock him out.”

“Okay, something’s not right,” Zero said, his eyebrows drawn together in uncertainty. “You just willingly gave me helpful advice.”

“Nice change, huh? Here’s some more.”

“Yeah?”

“Get out of here and get to the scene so _no one fucking dies_ , you ass.”

“Okay, that’s better,” Zero said, disappearing with a parting wave.

Police cars were pulling up to the scene of Demolition Beta’s destruction, so Alex figured there was no point in staying there. He flew off somewhere and landed in the middle of a nondescript collection of trees. _I won’t go home to change out of my suit in case Zero needs help, or something._

About five minutes later, it looked like he’d made the right decision.

His phone went off once again, and he took it out of its pouch to answer it. “What’s going on this time?” he asked. _Another attack? From who? Did the Crowned break someone else out of prison?_

“Son, I want you and Zero to get to the water tower by Franklin High School. I’m afraid…” Washington trailed off, then cleared his throat. “I’m afraid the Crowned is attacking citizens nearby to announce his return to the world. We have reinforcements coming to back you up, and ambulances are already on their way to help the injured.”

“Okay.” It was the only thing he could say in response that wouldn’t give away the fact that he’d been stricken with fear. Alex hung up, putting his phone away.

_What the hell? The Crowned sent his allies out at the same time on purpose, so we’d be occupied while he_ gloriously _announced his return._ Now, Alex was starting to get angry again, but at the Crowned for having been able to predict their actions so easily.

_Zero and I need to get to the scene together, but he might still be fighting the Duplicate. How am I gonna know if he’s contained the problem yet?_ Just then, an idea popped into Alex’s head; it was a shot in the dark, seeing as he wasn’t quite sure if Zero’s telepathic abilities remained effective with someone else initiating the conversation, but he figured it was worth a try.

_Zero, can you hear me?_ he projected.

For a while, there was nothing. Then, out of nowhere: _Yeah. What’s up?_

Alex breathed a sigh of relief. _Have you taken care of the Duplicate yet?_

_Just did, you’re right on time._

_I need you to teleport over to me._

_Why?_

_The Crowned is attacking the water tower by Franklin High, and we can both get there faster if you bring me with you. You can get to where I am, right? You have that weird thing where you always end up in the same place as me?_

_Yeah, I’ll be there to pick you up._

Zero appeared next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to steady himself after his landing. “Okay, you ready?” he asked.

Alex nodded, and Zero took his hand. Their surroundings disappeared, then shifted those of their destination.

When they got there, the Crowned was already gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter: they start to not hate each other


	9. The (After) Life Of The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some of this chapter is john having a panic attack and some of this chapter is john dissociating and some of this chapter is john and alex talking about politics and some of this chapter is john being gay

John would be lying if he denied trying to provoke the Hurricane to get a rise out of him; he’d tried to get him to say something that was indicative of their relationship because really, it had to be the strangest thing he’d ever felt, witnessing a person who normally would’ve responded with anger to his insults just show a complete absence of any emotional response. He wanted them to go back to hating each other as explosively as they had when they’d first met.

John wanted this because it had grown so familiar to him, he realized; he wanted to know what to expect from the Hurricane. He didn’t want to get caught in the trap of revealing too much about himself, which was what would happen if their relationship remained anything but stagnant and started to change for the better. He didn’t want anything between the two of them to differ from what he already knew.

On the other hand, why did they even hate each other in the first place? John hated the Hurricane because he was arrogant and self-centered; he was certain of that. So why did the Hurricane hate _him_? Was it because he interrupted sometimes at inopportune moments and hindered the Hurricane’s progress towards completing whatever mission he’d been assigned? Or was it perhaps because John was doing the same job as him and the Hurricane was afraid he would do it better? John suspected it was a combination of both, and he was almost sure that he’d come to the correct conclusion. Reading people just came naturally to him; because he wasn’t too keen on revealing anything about himself, he tended to focus on other people, on their mannerisms and reactions to others.

That was why John was so bothered. Maybe he’d been wrong about the Hurricane. Maybe the Hurricane had found it in him to get over himself since their last encounter. If that was the case, then why was John clinging onto his hate in a desperate attempt to manage the situation and prevent change? If the Hurricane no longer hated him, then he no longer had a reason to hate the Hurricane. What was stopping them from working together from now on?

_Just concentrate,_ he told himself. _You have a job to do. You can worry about everything else later._

After he teleported away from the mess Demolition Beta had made, he conveniently landed on the roof of the shopping mall. _Okay, he said that you’ve just gotta look for the one that’s standing still,_ he told himself. _And you have to hurry up so no one gets hurt._ People were still trying to evacuate, but no one had made it out of the parking lot.

John looked over the edge of the roof to see nothing that would indicate to him who the real Duplicate was; well, at least, perceived nothing. To him, the scene down below was a mess of colors and indistinct motion that made for a blurry portrait. It was when he realized that he couldn’t see shit that he also realized he was crying and his heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to explode.

_Fuck, not now,_ he thought, tightly gripping the edge of the roof to get a hold of himself. Unfortunately, he couldn’t calm himself down because he couldn’t even think straight; his head was pounding and swimming with incoherent thoughts. Only one thought passing through his mind was clear and made sense: _I am going to die._

Luckily for him, he decided to elaborate on that one thought, something that was sure to help the situation _immensely_. _He’s going to find me up here, and he’s going to corner me, and then I’m going to die. I’m going to start decomposing while I’m still alive, and I’m going to die,_ he thought.

His throat closed up, and his breathing started to become rough and shallow. God, why _now_? Who thought it was a good idea to give him a panic attack in the middle of a battle for the safety of the city?

In the middle of the mess he’d become, he heard something go off in his head; a thought, but in the Hurricane’s voice.

_Zero, can you hear me?_

It unexpectedly helped bring him back to reality. He sat there for a moment, still handicapped by panic, then found the strength in him to bring a shaky hand to his face and wipe the tears from his eyes. _I have to go,_ he thought to himself, though he was still in immense physical and mental pain.

He forced himself to look over the edge again, and even though he had a splitting headache and his brain couldn’t fully comprehend the scene below him, he managed to pick out the Duplicate he would need to go for. _Here we go,_ he thought to himself, jumping off the edge and steering himself towards the Duplicate. Once he was within ten feet of him, he fired a round of sonic booms; when he saw them hit their target and he was sure the rest of the duplicates had disappeared, he teleported back to the roof of the mall to wait out his symptoms.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, completely overwhelmed with his sudden and irrational terror, but when it was over, he felt unbelievably fatigued. His hands and fingers were sore from holding on so tightly to the edge of the roof, and his eyes ached in his skull from all the crying he’d done. His body in general was left weak from the amount of stress it’d been put under.

_Oh, right, the Hurricane,_ he reminded himself as he stared off into the distance. _What did he say? He just asked if I was there, right?_

_Yeah. What’s up?_ he shot back.

_Have you defeated the Duplicate yet?_

_Yes, thank god,_ he thought, but instead projected, _Just did, you’re right on time._

_I need you to teleport over to me._

_Why?_ he asked out of habit.

_The Crowned is attacking the water tower by Franklin High, and we can both get there faster if you bring me with you. You can get to where I am, right? You have that weird thing where you always end up in the same place as me?_

_Shit, that’s not good,_ he thought, too tired to feel any more fear. He said, _Yeah, I’ll be there to pick you up._

When he teleported to pick up the Hurricane, the first thing he thought was, _Why the fuck is he over here? I mean, I guess he wanted to get away from the scene, but… why here? He could’ve gone anywhere else and he chooses to camp out in the middle of some trees. Not even a forest, just… trees._

When John was done puzzling over their current position, he took the Hurricane’s hand and teleported the two of them away.

When they arrived by the water tower, no one was there. Well, the Crowned wasn’t there. News reporters, ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks had all gathered in the middle of the street; civilians who’d sustained no injuries were blocked off by police tape, and those who had were being wheeled into the ambulances. “He was definitely here,” John said, “but he’s not anymore.”

“Fuck, we were too late,” the Hurricane muttered. “Let’s go. I don’t wanna be interviewed or anything. That’s just gonna make me feel worse.”

“Where do you want to go?” John asked, taking his hand without hesitation. He had the urge to provoke him again, just to try and solidify their hatred for each other, but he decided that it would be best to just put his need for stagnancy aside. He wanted to tread as carefully as he could.

“I don’t care, just fucking _somewhere_. Somewhere other than here,” the Hurricane provided.

“Sure.” _Well, I guess wherever we end up, we end up,_ John thought, teleporting to the _somewhere_ the Hurricane had directed him towards.

The garden behind the library. _That’s the second time we’ve ended up here,_ John realized. _I wonder if there’s a reason for that, or if it’s just completely random. Maybe he has some sort of emotional significance to it and I’m unknowingly being influenced by it. Or maybe it’s just me, and I wanted to go back here. For some reason. It_ is _pretty._

“Here again?” the Hurricane asked, blinking.

“That’s okay, right?”

“I didn’t mean it wasn’t okay,” the Hurricane explained, sitting down on a bench next to a tree from which a string of paper lanterns was hung. John joined him. “But it’s okay. I mean, I wasn’t expecting you to take me home, or anything.”

“And I’m not _going_ to take you home, so don't get your hopes up,” John said. “But chivalry is still alive and well, I promise.”

That got a laugh out of the Hurricane. He paused, then started a new topic by saying, “Look, I’m sorry.”

“For what?” John asked.

“For being such an asshole from the start. I guess I was just… I don’t know, close-minded about you coming to help,” the Hurricane explained. “But now, I realize that it’s in the country’s best interests to cooperate with each other. So I’m sorry. I hope you can forgive me.”

_Damn,_ John thought. _He was finally able to swallow his pride and admit we’re a stronger force combined than separate. I didn’t think he could do it._

“I forgive you,” he said with a small smile.

The Hurricane looked relieved. “I was getting tired of hating you, to be honest. But I really am sorry for being a jerk. I have a tendency to make things all about myself.”

“I noticed.”

They both sat in silence for a while, and in that time, John was left with his thoughts. The Hurricane admitted that he’d been a shitty human being, which meant John didn’t have to hate him anymore. He didn’t have to like him, but he didn’t have to hate him.

John didn’t like the sudden shift in their relationship because of how quickly it came about, but it was kind of nice knowing he could rely on the Hurricane from now on and vice versa. Maybe John would finally be able trust someone with full knowledge that they wouldn’t violate that trust; after all, the Hurricane was a superhero whose main goal was to defend the country, so he shouldn’t have a reason to violate his trust when John shared that goal.

“So,” the Hurricane broke in, “the Crowned’s back. Officially.”

Oh, yeah, _that_. After panicking for an indiscernible amount of time, John had fallen into a dissociative state characterized by his inability to correctly interpret the weight of certain events and their consequences; essentially, it was a detachment from reality.

“I’m sure Fox News will have a lot to say about that,” was all John could think to say. He hoped it wasn’t apparent that he didn’t care as much as he should’ve.

“It’s kind of weird how they criticize liberals for not wanting to label ‘Islamic terrorism’ in an attempt to avoid marginalizing an entire religion, yet they refuse to call the Crowned what he actually is: a white terrorist. And by ‘kind of weird’ I mean ‘fucking stupid.’”

“Fox News as a whole is just fucking stupid,” John agreed. “At least, the political talk shows are. The shit about the stock market that comes on in the morning actually isn’t that bad.”

“I’m guessing you live with someone who watches a lot of Fox News?”

John scoffed. “I live in a very _conservative_ household.”

“You know,” the Hurricane began after taking a moment to collect his thoughts, “when I first met you and was convinced that I hated you, I thought to myself, _Wow, he’s a horrible person._ And then you kept showing up, and somewhere along the line, maybe a few days ago, your face was in my head and I thought, _But god, he’s not a horrible enough person to be a Republican_.”

John laughed. “Okay. I guess that’s the one good thought you’ve had about me in the two weeks we’ve known each other.”

Now that they’d decided they didn’t fucking hate each other and John was actually having a conversation with him, the Hurricane didn’t seem like that bad of a person. Maybe John really was starting to like him.

Once more, they space between them was filled with quiet. This time, John was the one who spoke up.

“Is the President really your dad?” he asked, even though it was public information that President George Washington and his wife Martha had no sons living with them in the White House. He knew it was a stupid question, but he asked it anyway.

“No,” the Hurricane replied.

“Why do you call him your dad, then?”

“Well, my birth father left when I was really young,” the Hurricane explained. “Since I discovered my powers and we started working together, he just sort of _naturally_ filled the role. He’s the closest thing to a father I’ve ever had.”

_Wouldn’t it be nice to know what it’s like to have a father?_ John thought, a certain bitterness infecting his consciousness.

John’s father was the worst person he knew. He wanted so badly to stand up to him, to run away, do something to _distance_ himself, but he knew that if he fought back against him, the only thing he would end up with would be a set of fresh bruises. So he just shut up and took it, because he was so scared of what his father could do to him.

His mind wandered back to the last time his father hit him, a week ago. The bruise he’d gotten had healed completely and was no longer visible; but when he thought about it, he still felt the initial pain, a ghost across the surface of his skin.

“It’s nice that you have someone like that in your life,” John finally responded.

“I know. I just feel bad for—” He stopped himself, and didn’t continue speaking until a few seconds had passed. “I feel bad for people who don’t have someone like that.”

_I’m not going to talk to him about my problems,_ John decided. _I can vent later, when I actually feel like it, by talking to myself or something. Besides, I don’t want him to know anything about me yet until I’m sure I can trust him._

“Me too,” John agreed, looking out at the horizon. The sun had dipped almost completely out of sight, dragging with it a preview of the coming evening. “Do you know what time it is?”

“Last time I checked, it was 5:30,” the Hurricane provided.

“I don’t really _want_ to go home yet,” John said, thinking of his father. His father had told him to be home by 7:00, so he still had plenty of time until he would be considered as violating his curfew. He wanted to get there as late as he could so he saw his father the least amount possible.

“I’ll stay with you,” the Hurricane offered. “Until you want to go home. Then I’ll go home and you can teleport back to wherever you live, I guess.”

John smiled. “Thanks.”

Okay, so the Hurricane _was_ a nice person after all. John was starting to get more comfortable with the idea of their relationship improving. After all, they would probably fight better together if they had chemistry and a genuine like for one another. They would also probably fight better together if they knew each other well, but John chose to ignore that fact for the time being.

The point was, he and the Hurricane could be more than just partners: they could be friends. Which would make them even better partners, if John could get himself to open up. Which he wasn’t sure he would be able to do. That was what it came back to every single time, wasn’t it?

“So, Zero,” the Hurricane said, “Washington was wondering if you wanted to work closer with us? You know, like, together?”

He started trying to weigh the pros and cons in his head, but at the moment, he just didn’t care about them enough to make that important of a decision. “I’ll think about it later,” he answered. “I’m not in the best state to be making a decision like that right now.”

He nodded. “Okay, I won’t press further until you’re ready.”

_I’ll think about it when I get home. Or if I’m still too detached to think about it by then, I’ll think about it once I wake up tomorrow,_ he decided. _I’m just not in a good position to do anything about his proposition right now._

He guessed it was about 6:00 when the sun went down. In the time it’d taken for night to fall he and the Hurricane kept talking; the conversations they’d engaged in didn’t reveal too much about either of them in any way. They just served the purpose of socialization. Not small talk, but not too deep, either. But then, just when John thought he had to think of something to say to keep the conversation going, the Hurricane came in with a question out of left field.

“Can I kiss you?”

John should’ve been shocked, but _oh_ , he wasn’t done dissociating _yet_. “No,” he replied, rather bluntly. “Why do you ask?”

The Hurricane blinked, not looking particularly disappointed. He shrugged. “You remind me of someone I really want to kiss. Your hair does, I mean.”

“A pretty girl?”

“A pretty boy.”

“Oh.”

“I really want to kiss him here,” he explained, gesturing vaguely to their surroundings. “In the garden. I think he just wants to be friends, though. I don’t know. I don’t even know why I asked. Pretend the last minute of your life never happened.”

“Okay, I will. Cool.”

And that was when he stopped dissociating. The silence between them wasn’t awkward like John had expected, but it made him uncomfortable, because even though he knew it wouldn’t happen, he was scared that he would accidentally project his thoughts out loud and the Hurricane would hear them.

_He said I remind him of someone he wants to kiss. Which means he at least finds me conventionally attractive. And he’s also attracted to the same gender. And_ I’m _attracted to the same gender. And you know, he’s got really pretty eyes, and nice hair, and he offered to stay with me until I wanted to go home—_

John bit his lip, slowly turning his head to stare at the Hurricane while he looked thoughtfully at the sky. And as he was staring at the boy sitting next to him, he realized something and thought, _Yikes._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, john, at least he's not a republican, amirite  
> \+ OH MY GOD THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS DEVELOPING


	10. The Carpal Tunnel of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> when did every chapter title become a reference to fall out boy by fall out boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rape and abuse tw for this chapter!!  
> sorry i haven't updated in a while!! i was in the hospital for most of last week but i'm (mostly) better now. i'll try to make it up to you guys by updating everyday for the next two weeks, because after that, i have to start my AP homework, so there won't be many updates.

At the end of the night, John went home, and the next morning he woke up with a fever, a stuffy nose, and a sore throat.

_Christ,_ he thought, his body immediately overcome by chills as he sat up. _I hate everything._

With some effort, he shifted to the side to pick his phone up from where it was resting on the nightstand next to his bed. When he turned it on, he saw that he’d received a text from Maria. He read it, then typed out a reply.

**maria(h):** hey John!!! Eliza and i were wondering if you and Alex wanted to come to her house with me to watch a movie? you know since it’s really dangerous to go to a theater. i know they reopened the underground shelters and turned the alarm system back on, but Liza is still scared, so  
**me:** i feel bad for saying this but im currently sick as FCUKC so i can’t

A response came back about ten seconds later.

**maria(h):** oh, that’s fine!! i just won’t ask Alex then. Eliza and i can stay home by ourselves ;)))))) if you need anything, i can come over!!!!!!!  
**me:** i’ll be fine, i think

No sooner than he’d sent that did he get a text from Eliza.

**eliza:** Oh! John, I didn’t know you were sick! Maria and I will be over there as soon as possible with tissues, Tylenol, and bath bombs.  
**me:** i have tissues and tylenol at home???  
**eliza:** But do you have bath bombs?  
**me:** good point  
**me:** but you really don’t have to go out of your way to do this  
**eliza:** No, really, it’s fine! Neither of us mind.

He felt so unbearably _shitty_ in terms of his physical state, but his happiness was overwhelming when he realized that Eliza actually cared about his health, as shown through her persistence in coming over to his house to help him.

**me:** are you sure though?  
**eliza:** Yes!  
**me:** i mean as long as you don’t mind. i’ve been home alone since last night, my dad’s out  
**eliza:** Good, then I won’t have to worry about us getting kicked out.  
**eliza:** I’ll bring you popsicles, too. :)  
**me:** thanks. maria remembers how to get to my house, right?  
**eliza:** I just asked her, and she said she does. We’ll be there soon.

Elizabeth Schuyler was truly a gift to this world.

Because of this indisputable truth, he tried to focus on how grateful he was that the couple was going out of their way to come to his house while he was sick; unfortunately, his mind immediately went to how America had basically gone to shit yesterday. The Crowned was back, officially; he turned on the TV to see that every single news station was reporting on his return, as well as an address the President had given earlier that morning in response. The President’s address would likely offer little comfort to the citizens of D.C., though he assured them that both the city and the White House were sufficiently equipped to handle the threat. This was America’s most deadly supervillain, whom everyone knew had the means to take over the White House and throw the country into chaos. And _because_ everyone in the city knew what he was capable of, because they had experienced it before, there was likely to be immediate panic and paranoia in the population.

And _then_ his mind went to how he was the one the one who had to prevent the Crowned from actually overthrowing the U.S. government. Well, the Hurricane, too; after all, they _were_ partners now. But still, sharing that big of a responsibility didn’t make it very much easier to carry, especially since John had major trust issues as well as a tiny amount of certain _feelings_ directed towards the Hurricane that would likely keep their partnership from being as effective as it could be.

God, he _really_ didn’t want to be blamed for anything that went wrong while the two of them were trying to protect the city. And he didn’t want to screw up.

When he heard the doorbell ring, he dragged himself out of bed and forced himself to go downstairs and open the door.

“Maria,” he greeted, not surprised that it caused him immense pain to talk. He peeked behind her. “Where’s Eliza?”

“When she was walking down from her room, she fell down the stairs, sprained both of her ankles, and hit her head, so I forced her to stay home and rest,” Maria explained.

_What? That’s awfully sudden and harsh,_ John thought. “Tell her I hope that she gets better,” he offered as Maria came inside and closed the door behind her.

“So, what do you want to do first?” Maria asked with a smile, gesturing to the paper bag she was carrying in her right hand.

“Um, lay down in bed?”

“Err, no.” When John raised an eyebrow at her, Maria elaborated, “You gotta move around a little—but not so much that you get exhausted—so that you feel better. You should take a bath first. You’re probably all gross and nasty from baking under the sheets all night in viral DNA and sweat.”

“You brought bath bombs, right?” he asked hopefully.

“Yeah. Eliza has a ton at home. I obviously couldn’t bring them all, but I brought as many as could fit in here with all the other stuff. Take your pick.” Maria handed him the bag, which he embarrassingly almost dropped due to his failure to correctly estimate its weight.

“Um, well, I’ve never really used one, I’ve just seen pictures of them in the water,” John admitted.

Maria fished around in the bag for a while before she pulled something out. “Uh, I think you’ll like this one? It’s called Intergalactic and it looks really pretty when you drop it the the water,” she said, handing him a dark blue bath bomb with neon streaks running along the sides.

“It’s the size of a softball.”

“Yeah. Just drop it in the water once you’re done running it. I’ll be in here waiting for you,” Maria told him, taking a seat on the couch.

“See you in like an hour,” John said with a wave, hurrying back up the stairs to the bathroom.

He stripped, trying to ignore his chills, and inched forward slowly to run the hot water. _Dear god, please hurry up,_ he begged, his teeth starting to chatter. Finally, when the bath was full, he shut off the water, got in, and dropped the bath bomb once he was sitting down.

He wanted to lean back and relax, but he couldn’t stop watching it fizz, couldn’t stop tracing the swirls of bright pink and yellow foam with his eyes. When he started smelling peppermint, he finally convinced himself to sit back and close his eyes. This is nice, he thought, nose starting to clear up as he inhaled the shifting scents deeply.

His heart rate had gone down, and his chills had halted for the moment, so he figured now was the perfect moment to engage in the vivid imagining of a self-indulgent romantic fantasy.

He was sitting up in the tub, his legs crossed, with the Hurricane across from him; John didn’t know what his face looked like yet, so in his head, it just rendered down to a blur of indistinct features. _Hey, are you feeling okay?_ he asked.

Sex was something that absolutely terrified John, and he wasn’t feeling particularly aroused or in the mood to be aroused, given that he had very suddenly fallen physically ill overnight, so he’d just skipped over it. _Yeah, I’m fine, I think,_ John replied, scooting closer until their knees were touching.

_Do you want me to wash your hair for you?_ They’d showered before they’d filled the bathtub, but John hadn’t bothered to wash his hair.

_Sure,_ John agreed, tilting his head back. He let out a content sigh as he felt long, delicate fingers gently part his curls and massage his scalp. A shiver ran through him—

“I don’t want to get up,” he complained out loud with exasperation, realizing that he had to wash his hair by himself. “I’ll do it later. The suds will probably fuck up how pretty the water is right now.” By then, the bath bomb was completely gone, and the water was now dyed a dark blue. Instead of washing his hair, he just flipped it forward and dunked his head under the water to get it wet.

_I hate being sick,_ he decided, even though that was something that was rather obvious.

Finally, after about thirty minutes of just sitting there and thinking about how much he didn’t want to do it, John reached to the side to grab some shampoo and spitefully began working it through his hair. _Fuckin’ stupid cold. Fuckin’ stupid hair. Fuckin’ stupid hygiene. Fuckin’ stupid crushes,_ he thought. As he lowered his head into the water to rinse out the shampoo, he continued, _Maybe if I just hold my head under and drown myself I’ll be less inconvenienced._

The thought was a joke, though John knew that it really shouldn’t have been. Whatever. If he really wanted to kill himself, he would have to wait until after the Crowned was locked away and executed for his crimes. And he wanted to kiss the Hurricane at least once before he died.

Well, at least he had his priorities in order. Save the country from its most dangerous supervillain with your torturously attractive crush and then make out with him at the end of the day? That sounded appealing. And then to rub it in everyone’s face, he could tell the guy with the nice hair that the Hurricane wanted to kiss that he was stupid for only wanting to be friends.

_Real life, Laurens,_ he told himself as he slathered copious amounts of conditioner onto his hair. _Focus on it. Before you can make out with your possibly future hot superhero boyfriend, you have to work with him to take down a terrorist. And you still have to decide about whether or not you want to work with him and Washington._

He paused, immediately coming up with an answer as soon as he stalled his train of thought. _No. If we’re working that closely, he’ll be eager to learn my identity. I… I don’t want him to learn my identity._ Yes, John knew it was counterproductive to turn down the President’s offer, but it was the only way to keep his anonymity intact.

And besides the Hurricane, there was also Alexander, who was actively attempting to obtain his secret identity. Alex hadn’t conferred with John regarding his plan in a while now, so John had started to gain hope that he could detach himself completely from the situation and cease his involvement in the plan without having to feel like he was letting Alex down. Though, he still felt as if every time he went out to fight, Alex was there. Somehow. He didn’t _see_ him, but John _felt_ like he was there.

After he finished scrubbing his body with soap, he let the water drain from the bathtub. When it was empty, he stepped out, drying himself off and wrapping the towel he’d used around his waist. He hurried back to his room to get some sweatpants and a T-shirt to change into.

When he was dressed, he sneezed his way down the stairs, with Maria offering a polite “Bless you” every time.

“What do you want to do now, John?” she asked, bouncing her leg up and down.

"I dunno," John shrugged. "You can find something to eat for breakfast, maybe."

"Already had breakfast at my house. _You_ should get something to eat for breakfast."

"Not hungry," John said, taking a seat next to her. "Where did you put the popsicles?"

"Um, in the freezer?" Maria laughed.

"Right, right, of course," John said, walking into the kitchen and returning with a lime flavored popsicle.

"Is green your favorite color?" Maria asked as she watched John unwrap it.

John nodded, since he couldn't talk properly with the huge chunk he'd broken off in his mouth.

"How do you bite that without screaming out in pain?" Maria asked incredulously. He took another bite of the popsicle.

"It's the one thing I can actually tolerate, pain-wise," John said once he swallowed. "Speaking of pain, how's Eliza doing?"

"She just texted me saying that she was fine." Maria looked off into the distance with a rueful smile. "I love that girl so much, but sometimes she needs to be a little more aware of her surroundings."

He wasn't quite sure what he was originally intending to ask, but he let the words tumble out of his mouth either way. "Do you two—? Do you—?"

"John, I love her so much," she said in a shaky voice, and John wasn't prepared for the waterfall of emotion that followed out of nowhere. "I want to protect her as much as possible, but with what's been going on lately, I'm— I'm not sure I can do it. John." She looked him dead in the eye, and he could see that hers were welling up with tears. "I can't. I'm not a superhero. I can't."

"Okay, you may not be a superhero," John began, "but you love her. And that means you'll try your best to do whatever it takes to keep her safe, even if it fails. And if it fails, just remember that you love her from the bottom of your heart and you devoted one hundred percent to her wellbeing." He pushed himself through the speech despite the pain in his throat because he felt like Maria needed it. "If something bad does end up happening to her, which I doubt it will, it won't be your fault. The defenders of the city will be at fault for letting an innocent person get injured."

Maria's tearful expression went blank. "John, I'm going to tell you something about myself that I want you to know."

John nodded, feeling his muscles tense in anticipation. "Okay, go ahead."

Maria took a deep breath. "Okay, so when I was a freshman, I was... really vulnerable. And I still thought I was sexually and romantically attracted to guys." She cleared her throat. "Um, I started dating this senior, James, because he made me feel special, I guess. I was easily impressed back then, and James seemed nice. He hung out with all my friends, took me off-campus to get lunch, bought me dresses and overpriced jewelry... you know, to show me how much he cared.

"I really thought he cared for me, John." John shifted uncomfortably in his seat, sensing that the story was about to go sour. "But then after two weeks, I think, of dating, he told me he wanted to spend more time with me and that I should stop hanging out with my friends. He stopped sitting where my friends sat, and I didn't know what to do, because I wanted to spend time with him, but I wanted to spend time with my friends, too. Eventually, I stopped talking to my friends and spent every minute we weren't in class with James. He was so happy, I convinced myself that I made the right decision.

"Everything was fine for a while. Then, instead of buying me dresses and jewelry, he started buying me lingerie, and he told me he would like it if I took pictures of myself wearing the things that he bought me and sent them to him. It made me really uncomfortable, but I figured since I wasn't naked, it was okay. I would always mismatch my panties and bra so I would feel... I don't know, goofy, I guess? Instead of oversexualized.

"And then, he texts me saying he wants nudes, and I just flat out say no, because the shock was pretty much overwhelming. He keeps asking, though, and I keep saying no. And at some point, he threatens to kill me. I thought it was a joke, but an hour later he shows up, banging on my front door in the middle of night with one hand and waving a knife around in the other.

"After he calmed down and put the knife away, he texted me saying that if I didn't send him nudes, he would show my mom the pictures of me in my underwear. I knew my mom would get mad at me, and I didn't want her to be upset; I didn't want our relationship to be ruined. So I sent him nudes.

"He wanted one from me every day, and every day I sent him one, I could almost feel a piece of myself go missing." She paused, taking a breath to collect herself. "Him and I were alone at my house on a Saturday, and he... um, he started trying to get me to have sex with him. Obviously, I didn't want to, so I refused, and he said that he would show everyone in school my nudes, and that he would show all the incoming freshmen too so that everyone would know that I was a filthy whore. That was what he called me. I was dating him, and I thought he was the love of my life, and he called me a _filthy whore._

"I kept saying no, because that made me angry. But he was bigger than me, and he was stronger than me, so he didn't have a very hard time overpowering me. John, he raped me." That was what John had been afraid she was going to say. Hearing it come out of her mouth made him want to vomit. "Every time he came over to my house, he would rape me. Every time I tried to break up with him, he would come to my house and rape me. He would beat me. He would try to strangle me. He would punch me until my nose was broken. And I didn't tell anyone anything, because I didn't want anyone to know.

"I was walking home from school one day in the summer, and it was raining. And I remember saying out loud, 'God, I wish James was dead.' And I got home, turned on the news, and saw that he and his family had burned alive in a house fire." Well. _That_ was an abrupt, violent ending. "I wasn't guilty for wishing it upon James. But I was guilty that his family had died with him. I was free, but from then on, I never trusted myself again." She took a deep breath, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't tell you that because I want you to feel sorry for me, John. I told you because I want you to know what I've been through. I _am_ a good person, I swear."

"Maria, you don't need to tell me that. I already know you're a good person," John said, offering the most comforting smile he could.

Maria stared at him for a while, then nodded. "Okay. You wanna do something now?"

John was about to agree, but then he felt an alarm go off in his brain. _Shit, I gotta go,_ he thought. "Um, I think I forgot my History book down at the library on Thursday. I'm gonna go ahead and run down there real quick. I'll be back soon," John said in the steadiest voice he could manage.

"I should drive you!" Maria offered. "I don't want you to walk all that way while you're sick."

"No, I'll be fine," John assured her. "I'll get changed real quick, then I'll leave through the back door so I don't bother you." He rushed up to his room and closed the door so he could change.

His head was spinning by the time he got his suit on. Of _course_ there would be trouble while he was sick. He took a deep breath, preparing to teleport away.

Before he could, someone pulled his mask off and replaced it with a tightly fastened black cloth. He tried to teleport away, but he felt the person wrap something thin and cold around his neck that tightened with each attempt he took, somehow jamming him. Finally, they shoved him forward into what must've been some sort of portal or negative space, and he fell for what felt like hours.

He landed on his knees, unable to see anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> officially 1/3 of the way done


	11. The Kid Was Alright, But It Went To His Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY FOR THE HEART ATTACK I AM ABOUT TO GIVE YOU BUT TRUST ME EVERYTHING IS OKAY IN THE END

Alex hadn’t been prepared to get another phone call from Washington so early in the morning, but he supposed he should’ve been, what with the Crowned’s official return and all happening last night. He made sure the door to his bedroom was locked in case Hercules or either of his parents came in to check on him, then answered the call.

“What’s up?” he asked, trying to keep his cool because the country was currently in serious shit and he didn’t want to show how fearful he was.

“Alex, this is serious,” Washington told him, and Alex could tell by the tone of his voice that he was about to have a whole lot more to be afraid of than just his predictions of the near future. “Two people have been captured and restrained in the same warehouse that you first fought the Crowned in _by_ the Crowned and an unidentified accomplice. Our surveillance has identified one of the people as Zero Frequency, while the other remains unidentified.” Shit. “We’ve identified explosives in and outside the warehouse as well.” _Shit_. “It would be dangerous to send anyone else other than you inside to defuse the bombs. It’s vital to the survival of the country that you figure out how to get everyone out of there safely. Do you understand?”

Of _course_ he understood. If Zero died in a violent explosion, that would mean a lot less help contributed to the cause of preventing the U.S. government from being taken over by a white terrorist and his supervillain followers. Not only that, but it would mean the loss of a pretty cool guy with whom Alex was just starting to become friends with after despising for two weeks straight. So yes, he got how important it was for him to get the hostages out of the building alive.

“Yes, sir,” he said with a sharp nod, deeming ‘dad’ to be a bit too casual for the situation. “I understand.”

“I won’t call for backup. The place is already in the middle of nowhere, so if it explodes, no one else will get hurt. I know it’s a bit of a reckless call on my part, but I want to be responsible for as little death as possible. Besides, against the Crowned, I don’t think backup would be able to do much,” Washington explained.

“You don’t want to put anyone else in the line of fire, and for them to be safe they’d be too far away to do anything helpful. I got it,” Alex said, giving him a thumbs up. “I’ll be fine on my own.”

“Good. Good luck to you.” Alex was about to hang up when Washington said, “Alex, one more thing. If there’s absolutely no hope of you getting anyone out, I want you to save yourself. Just run away. I won’t hold it against you.”

Alex nodded. “Okay, I will,” he said, then hung up once he made sure that Washington didn’t have anything more instructions to give him. _There’s no way I’m letting either of them die, especially not Zero. Not when I still know so little about him. Not when I still need his help._

He left a short note on his bed for Hercules saying that he’d gone on for a walk and would be back in about a half-hour, then changed into his suit and flew away through the window.

As he was flying, he thought about the situation. The Crowned had obviously somehow gotten ahold of Zero because he wanted to eliminate him so he wouldn’t be in his way by actively trying to stop him. So why not just kill him? Why kidnap him and someone else and set up explosives around an abandoned warehouse? Alex knew the Crowned was a smart man. Him going to lengths this great just to get rid of Zero didn’t make any sense. He _had_ to want something else out of it.

_I’m walking right into a trap,_ Alex realized as he approached the doors to the warehouse. _He needs me to be in there for his plan to work, and I have no choice but to go. If I don’t, he won’t hesitate to kill everyone inside. And he knows I know that._

Alex took a deep breath. _I have to go. There’s no way I’m letting the Crowned get away with this. I’m getting the both of them out of there._

Before he stepped inside, he tried to contact Zero to see what the situation was. _Hey, Zero?_ he asked. _Can you hear me?_

No response.

_Zero? Can you tell me about what’s going on inside?_

Still, nothing.

_Zero, are you there? Are you okay?_

When he got silence for a third time, Alex feared the worst. Nevertheless, figuring he had to throw himself into the danger at some point, Alex stepped inside.

The first thing his eyes gravitated to was Zero, who appeared to be passed out against the wall. He was blindfolded, and around his neck was a thick, silver band whose circumference was surrounded by floating red crystals which served as a minor source of light. As soon as Alex made sure that Zero was breathing, his eyes shifted to his right until they landed on the other hostage, who was also passed out and restrained in an identical manner—

Wait. Was that—? No. God, no, it couldn’t be her.

Eliza?

Alex took a step closer to see his observation confirmed. _Shit. I’m really gonna kill him now,_ he decided, finding it difficult to temporarily keep his rising anger under control.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to for long, because a moment later, the Crowned stepped out of the shadows. “Ah, I see you’ve acquired the decency to join us, my dear Hurricane,” he drawled, idly twirling his scepter in the air. His aura of complete nonchalance, the underlying air of superiority that he gave off; it only made Alex angrier. “Now that you’re here, you can join in on the little game I’ve set up for you to play. But of course, every game needs at least two players. Maria, you can come out, now!”

Flashing lights and police sirens went off in his brain. _What? Maria?_ he thought, looking around wildly until he finally spotted her, stepping out in front of the hostages. Instead of wearing something he would’ve expected her to, she was wearing a black, full-body supersuit with gold trim running along the sides. In her right hand, she was holding a glowing, yellow-orange arrow that was nearly the size of a spear. She had the same collar of crystals around her neck that the others did. _I don’t get it,_ he said to himself. _I didn’t know Maria had powers. And the Crowned has her trapped here, too?_

“You see, Maria works for me,” the Crowned explained, “which makes her your opposing player.”

_What? Maria, working for the Crowned?_ At first, Alex thought, _That doesn’t make any sense,_ but then he started to think, _How could she? Why?_

The Crowned clapped. “So, here’s how this game works. There’s a concealed bomb in this warehouse that will go off in ten minutes. The goal is for one of you playing to knock the other one out before the bomb destroys the building with all of you inside. If that happens, I’ll let whomever wins out with the hostage I’ve assigned to them; if Maria wins, I’ll let Eliza go, and if the Hurricane wins, I’ll let Zero go.” He cleared his throat. “A few details, and a few rules. Zero and Eliza’s collars are immobilizing. Maria’s isn’t. All three of them are explosive. If one of them leaves the warehouse before this game is over, the other two will go off. If all three of them leave, their collars will go off. If the Hurricane is still inside, the bomb will, as well, to ensure his death. If the bomb is somehow found and deactivated, all three collars will go off. If the Hurricane leaves the warehouse at any time, every explosive will be activated. Sound fun?”

“It’s sick,” Alex spat. “But it’s the only chance at survival any of us have.” He glared at Maria, thinking, _How can you support_ this _?_

“Exactly,” the Crowned agreed. “Well, I’ll be off watching from far away.” Maria waved her hand, and an orange portal swirled into existence in front of the Crowned. It disappeared when he stepped through it.

Immediately after the Crowned left, he began wildly firing pressurized blasts of wind at Maria with the greatest force he could manage. It wasn’t hard to put his strength behind them, given that he was so completely saturated with rage.

“Stop, stop!” she shouted, conjuring a portal to protect herself from the attacks. “Please, just let me explain myself!”

Alex ignored her and flew around to her side, changing the trajectory of his attacks. She just made another portal, allowing the other one to dissipate.”

“Alex, please, just listen—”

“How do you know who I am?” he asked, stopping in his tracks and lowering himself to the ground.

“If you let me talk, I’ll tell you everything,” she promised, disassembling her portal.

Alex stared at her for a long time, then finally agreed when he felt that most of his anger had left him. “Okay,” he said with a nod. “Go ahead. But we only have ten minutes.”

Maria took in a deep breath, then began. “If you don’t know where I’m going with this story when I start, that’s fine. Just be patient. Anyways, everything started out a long time ago when I was a freshman. Long story short, that was before I was gay, and I ended up getting involved with a guy three years older than me who regularly sexually assaulted and abused me. I was walking home of day after school, and I said something out loud, like, ‘I wish James was dead.’

“Someone came out of the shadows and approached me; later, I found out that it was Demolition Beta. He told me that he could get the job done if I told him where he lived and what times he was home, but I refused, saying I didn’t really want him to die, I just wanted him to leave me alone. I told Beta what he was doing to me, and he said that he could find a way to scare him off so he would never touch me again. Only on one condition, though: he said that his boss had his eyes on me, and that if I wanted him to kick James out of my life, I had to swear on my life to do his boss a favor later down the road. I had no idea who Beta was at the time and that he worked for the Crowned, so I agreed.

“Beta didn’t just scare James off, he burned his fucking house down and everyone inside died in the fire. I was guilty about everyone except James, and I couldn’t stop thinking about everything that happened. I especially couldn’t forget the promise I’d made, because I’d had no idea with whom I’d made it.

“Last year, I discovered my powers, and I started to think that was why Beta said his boss had his eyes on me. I was too afraid to use my powers, because I didn’t want to hurt anybody with them. I was scared that the collateral damage I created would invalidate my job as a protector.” She stopped to breathe for a while with Alex mentally urging her to hurry up the entire time, then finally resumed.

“Then, two weeks ago, Demolition Beta’s mugshot turned up all over every news channel, and I realized that I recognized him as the guy that burned my shitty rapist ex-boyfriend’s house down. When the news channels went on to peg him as one of the Crowned’s lackeys, I also realized what I’d promised back when I was a freshman. I’d agreed to serve a favor for the country’s most destructive supervillain, who was now out of prison. And so finally, I realized that I was most likely going to have to hurt someone with my powers, exactly what I’d been afraid of doing the whole time.

“I met Eliza.” Up until that point, Maria had been recounting the story with incredible emotional detachment; it was then that her voice broke, and her eyes started to water. “I knew I shouldn’t have gotten close to her, or to any of her friends, because I knew that he would use her or any one of you against me. But I was so paranoid, and Eliza was the only person who could get me to think about something other than my promise.

“Yesterday, when we went on that date and Demolition Beta attacked the café, I didn’t leave through the back exit. The Crowned found me, and he took me somewhere underground so that no one would be able to find us. He told me that he was going to kill me and all of my, um, normal friends unless I complied with his every wish. I agreed, because I was scared, and I thought that maybe what he would make me do wouldn’t be so bad.

“At first, it wasn’t. He made me give the necklace to Eliza. He didn’t tell me anything about it. Then, later, he told me his entire plan, and when I refused to comply, he said that the necklace I had given Eliza would explode and decapitate her if I didn’t. Again, I figured that maybe it wouldn’t be too bad if I did what he said.

“He told me that he’d found a way to get Zero vulnerable. He could replicate the signal Zero picks up whenever there’s trouble so he would change into his supersuit to go after it, and while he was changing, I would blindfold him, put a necklace like Eliza’s around his neck, and push him into a portal leading back to the abandoned warehouse.

“With Eliza, I just…” She paused to compose herself. “I put the blindfold around her, but she kept hanging onto the stairwell when I tried to shove her away, so I made a portal at the bottom of the stairs and I pushed her down.

“And now, we’re here,” she concluded. “Alex, please listen to me when I say that this is not my fault. I never meant for this to happen to Eliza, or Zero, or you, or anyone.”

“It’s okay, Maria,” he said in a quiet voice. “I understand why you did what you did. Now that I understand that you didn’t act completely under your own free will, I forgive you.”

“Alex, I hope you understand how much I love Eliza. I knew that if I got close to her, she would get hurt, but I did it anyways. I tried as hard as I could to keep her from getting hurt, but I couldn’t do it.” She wiped her face when the tears which had been forming in her eyes started sliding down her cheeks.

“You can still save her, Maria,” Alex pointed out. “There’s no fucking way that only two of us are getting out of here alive. I’m going to save you, and I’m going to save Zero and Eliza.”

“Correction,” Maria cut in, “you’re going to save Zero and Eliza, but not me.”

Alex frowned. “I swear, Maria, if it’s the last thing I do—”

“Just relax,” Maria interrupted him. “I have a plan, and I’ve had one ever since the Crowned explained his disgusting ‘game’ to me.” She said the word ‘game’ whilst making air quotes.

“Well, what’s your plan?”

“Right. So, the Crowned explained to me that if two people wearing collars exit at the same time or close to it, neither of them will be harmed because the sensors used to trigger the collars can only either target one or all of them. He didn’t tell you this because obviously, he wanted the minimum amount of success. What I was thinking was that I could open a portal big enough for you, Eliza, and Zero to go through at the same time, with you using your wind powers to carry them down with you.”

Alex blinked. “But… that means that you can’t go.”

“Alex, I don’t _need_ to go,” she told him firmly. “If I get out, I’m just going to keep on helping the Crowned out of fear. And then I won’t be able to live with myself even more than I already can’t, knowing what I’ve done and will be forced to do to Eliza.”

“Maria, I’m not letting you stay here,” Alex declared.

“Well, how are you gonna get me out?” Maria asked, getting closer to Alex and starting to raise her voice. “Pick your favorite, I guess!” She gestured violently towards the back wall. “Alex, you just have to accept that you can’t save everyone. I know you want to, but you _can’t_. And even if you could save me, I wouldn’t want you to. I’m better off eliminated so the Crowned can’t use me as a weapon.”

Alex’s heart insisted that she was wrong, but his head knew that she was right in a warped, twisted way. His head also knew that they most likely didn’t have very much time left. He walked toward the back wall, encasing both of the captives in his signature ball of wind and returning with them to Maria. “Okay. I’m ready,” he said, still not able to fully comprehend the fact that his best friend’s girlfriend and one of _his_ friends was about to die.

Maria’s portal opened on the floor in front of him, and slowly, he floated down into it, making sure his friends were at the same level as he was.

Alex gasped when the three of them ended up outside. Carefully, he observed Zero and Eliza to make sure they were safe. After a few moments, their collars deactivated, went limp, and turned back into necklaces, which Alex promptly removed.

Behind him, Alex could hear a whirring noise that grew higher in pitch with every second. He didn’t turn around, because he already knew what was happening. Instead of thinking about it, he played with Zero’s hair and pretended that it was John’s. He ran his fingers through it, separated the tangles, brushed it out of his face—

He gripped the clump he’d been touching tighter when he heard the muffled sound of an explosion. He stayed frozen there for a long time, then decided that he would drop Eliza off at her house and… well… do _something_ with Zero.

He suspended the two of them again, then flew to Eliza’s house. Carefully, he opened the window to her room, floated inside, and gently placed her down on the bed. _How is she gonna find out?_ he thought, a pang of regret surging through his chest. _I could’ve found a way to save her._

He dismissed the thoughts. It didn’t do much good to dwell on it.

_How are you feeling? I’m feeling like the garden is a good place to go right now,_ he said to Zero in his head.

They landed in the garden with Zero lying on the ground and Alex sitting next to him. Alex shook Zero awake, trying to think happy thoughts.

“What?” Zero murmured groggily. “Why can’t I see?”

“You’re blindfolded.”

“Right, I was… uh, kidnapped, right,” he said, feeling around. “Wait, who are you?” he asked when his hand found Alex’s knee.

_It’s me,_ he said.

“Oh.” He lied back down. “What happened while I was out?”

“The Crowned made us play this sick game in the warehouse where we first saw him involving bomb detonation and ultimatums. We got you and another hostage out. The girl helping the Crowned died inside.”

“The Crowned sucks.”

“I agree.”

Zero leaned upwards so his back was a few inches off the ground, and cupped his hands around Alex’s face once he was able to find it. “Are we in the garden?” he asked, and Alex could almost feel his watery hazel eyes staring at him from behind the blindfold.

“Yes. How did you know?”

“It feels like we’re in the garden.”

“You have really vague ways of findi—” and Alex couldn’t really talk anymore, because because Zero’s mouth was pressed up against his.

_Well,_ he thought, reacting to sudden kiss a little too acceptingly. _Might as well._

“Um,” Zero said when Alex pulled away. “That was just because you said you wanted to. Here. I mean, not with me, but you asked me, so.”

“Sure, sure,” Alex laughed, wiping spit—his or Zero’s, he didn’t know—from his mouth. “That’s cool.”

They lied down in the grass in silence for a while before Zero sat bolt upright. “What is it?” Alex asked, joining him.

“Someone just talked to me in my head and told me to tell you something.”

“What did they say?”

“‘Tell the Hurricane that my collar didn’t detonate.’”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NO BURY YOUR GAYS TROPE HERE!!!!


	12. Not A Fall Out Boy Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> their relationship does a whole lot of backpedaling in this chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!! im planning to write two more chapters today to make up for the two days i skipped! i might not post them today, but they will be written by the end of today!

Alex went home in a rather good state, considering that a guy who he unfairly projected his feelings for John onto just kissed him and then told him his best friend’s girlfriend still had her head fully attached.

On Sunday, he started to feel himself contracting the beginnings of a sore throat and subsequently attempted to drown himself in vitamin C to forestall its arrival; this was to no avail, because on Monday, he came to school with a horrible cough accompanied by an even worse scratchy throat, snot smeared everywhere under his nose, and a fever so high he felt like his brain was melting.

“Are you okay?” Eliza asked when he shuffled over to their group’s spot by the library.

“Fantastic,” he said, then broke out into a coughing fit.

“You look like shit,” Lafayette pointed out.

“Even more than you already do,” Hercules added, high-fiving Peggy.

“I guess it’s cold and flu season,” Eliza sighed. “So many people are getting sick: first John, and now you. The rest of us are probably going to be next, seeing as we spend so much time with each other.”

“Is that why John’s not here?” Alex asked.

“I asked him a while ago, and he told me he was too sick to come,” Peggy offered. “So yes, that’s why he’s not here.”

The first thing Alex thought when he’d been briefed on the situation was, He’s gonna be stuck at home all day, and he’s not gonna be able to get away from his dad. So, being the incredibly concerned mutually sick friend that he was, he texted John with an offer.

**me:** john!!!!!  
 **john:** what  
 **me:** is your dad home???  
 **john:** no  
 **me:** will he be home throughout the course of the day???  
 **john:** no  
 **me:** we are coming over after school  
 **john:** nO  
 **john:** JSUST BRING EVERYONE TO YOUR HOUSE   
**me:** but then :((((( you :((((( won’t :(((((( be :(((((((( there :(((((((  
 **john:** im sick i dont think you want me to be there  
 **me:** :((((((  
 **me:** :((((((((((((((((((((((  
 **john:** FINE how about everyone goes to your house and i come anyway?????  
 **me:** thanks babe you’re the best ;)))))))  
 **john:** yeah w/e

“Guys, we’re all going to my house after school and John is dragging his ass along, too,” Alex told them.

Alex thought it strange how at this, Angelica turned to stare at Eliza, which made Eliza turn to stare at Peggy, which made Peggy turn to stare at Hercules, which made Hercules turn to stare at Maria, which made Maria turn to stare at Lafayette, which made Lafayette turn to look directly at Alex and wink at him. But whatever, it probably wouldn’t have any great significant meaning in the long run, anyway.

“Sure,” Peggy said slowly, glancing at Eliza. “Sounds like a _plan_.”

_What the fuck. That’s so weird. Stop acting so weird,_ Alex thought, but instead, he said, “Oh, good. So all of you can make it?”

“We’re _planning_ on it,” said Lafayette at an equally slow pace.

“Okay, cool, let’s _not_ talk about this anymore, now that we’ve all agreed on it,” Alex suggested, desperate to change the subject. “How does everyone feel about the Presidential nominees from each party?”

The rest of the day was absolute shit, but he’d done all the work for all his classes a week in advance, so the only thing he had to worry about was taking notes. Throughout the course of the day, he found himself growing increasingly excited to see John after school, which he hated himself for. It wasn’t like this hadn’t happened before, but really, his infatuation with this boy was getting out of control.

**john:** i’m at your front door right now  
 **me:** literally just knock or ring the doorbell and mrs. mulligan will let you in ALSO how did you get to my house so quickly?????????????  
 **john:** im a fast walker  
 **me:** okay, i’ll buy it. when you get inside you can just wait for us in the living room we’ll be like five minutes since we’re taking angelica’s car again  
 **me:** then again maybe not because the parking lot traffic is Not Ideal today

It took them longer to get out of the parking lot than Alex had predicted, but at least they were on their way to his house, so John wouldn’t have to be alone much longer. Yes, he was the one sitting on the floor this time, but Peggy, whom he was sitting under, was too short for their legs to reach the floor and crowd his space.

When they finally got to his house, Alex pulled Maria aside and asked, “Hey, can I talk to you outside for a minute?”

“Sure,” she said with a nod.

They stood outside and waited for everyone else to go in, and when they were the only ones left, Alex asked, “What happened while I was outside? I heard an explosion, but I know that you didn’t die.”

“Well, um, the Crowned never told me about this before, but apparently, my collar was made to transport me back to his base instead of kill me when it detonated,” she explained. “I guess I was too valuable to him to let die.”

“What did he tell you once you were there? Did he threaten you again?” Alex asked.

“I didn’t stick around,” Maria told him. “As soon as I recognized where I was, I left and went to Eliza’s house to go check on her. When I made sure she was okay, I told Zero to tell you that I was alive.”

Alex frowned, a question gnawing at the back of his mind. “Maria, do you know who Zero is?” He’d been trying to find out who Zero was since the very beginning, and now, Maria could have the information he’d been looking for.

Maria gave him a sharp nod. “Yes, I do know who he is. But I don’t think you want to know.”

At that, Alex could feel himself growing frustrated. “What? Why not?”

“I, um— I just don’t think it would be good if I told you,” she explained hurriedly, tugging on the hem of her shirt. “I don’t really know what to do when I have information people want, especially not in this case. I figure it’s just best to let you figure it out for yourself. I don’t want to be the one responsible for any revelations.”

“I guess you’re not gonna tell Eliza what happened, either?”

Maria shook her head.

Alex took a deep breath. “Okay. Go ahead and go inside,” he said when he felt his phone ringing in his pocket. “I gotta take this call.”

Maria joined the others inside. As soon as he saw the door close behind her, he fished his phone out of his pocket and answered it.

“Hey, what’s up?” he greeted when Washington appeared on the screen. “No one’s in trouble, are they?”

Washington shook his head. “No, no. I’d just like to inform you that progress towards constructing the protective barrier around the White House is moving a little slower than expected.”

“What exactly do you want me to take from this?”

“If we don’t finish the forcefield in time, we may need you to go on independent study and come personally defend the White House. We need you to find out who Zero is, as well, so he can come and do the same.” Washington sighed. “In addition to this… mess that we’re in, there are two more villains stuck in prison that helped the Crowned escape. He’s projected to be breaking them out soon, so be prepared for their arrival.”

Alex felt more and more lightheaded with every word that Washington spoke, and his body tensed uncomfortably. His jaw wouldn’t unclench, and his fists wouldn’t relax. “Um, okay. Thanks for the update,” he said, then hung up.

_Shit,_ he thought. _Independent study? My junior year? God, I didn’t think I’d have to pour my energy into saving the United States a year before I graduated high school. And not to mention how on top of all of that, Washington wants me to figure out Zero’s identity, too. I’m pretty sure he’s stuck together with superglue, because I can’t get him to open up no matter how hard I try. Kinda like John._

_You need to stop thinking about John,_ he told himself, then walked inside to see John lying on the couch, submerged in a pile of used tissues. God, even when he was sick, he was attractive. “Where did everyone else go?” he asked.

“They went to your room,” John answered. “They said I wasn’t allowed inside until they talked to you alone. Used some bullshit excuse having to do with cross-contamination that didn’t even make sense.”

“Sure, okay. I’ll go talk to them, and then you can properly cross-contaminate me,” Alex said, walking inside his room to find everyone except Angelica sitting on his bed.

Angelica put a hand on his shoulder. “My dearest Alexander, you’ve finally arrived. Please, take a seat.” At that moment, everyone sitting on the bed stood up in perfect synchronicity.

_They’re gonna kill me, or something,_ Alex thought to himself, taking a cautious seat on the bed. _This is too weird for this to be anything other than a ritual killing._

Peggy clapped to get his attention. “Look, Alex,” they began, “we know how gay you are for John.”

He felt a mild panic spread through him and stiffen his muscles further. “I’m not—”

“Save it,” Angelica cut him off. “Like Peggy said, we know you’re madly infatuated with John.”

Lafayette rolled their eyes. “It is _so_ obvious.”

“The way you look at the ground whenever you tell a joke that makes him laugh,” Eliza said.

“The way you stare at him whenever he’s talking to someone else and he’s not looking,” Peggy added, feigning an over-the-top swoon for good measure.

“Not to mention all of your awkward flirting that he’s too shy to reciprocate,” Angelica finished. “Long story short, we’re sick of seeing your relationship not get anywhere. All of us have taken bets on how long it would take you to ask him out, but all of us lost because you took so long.”

“God, can you guys cut me some slack?” Alex asked. He was so wired that he felt like if he moved so much as a centimeter, he was going to release all the energy pent up inside of him and just straight up punch someone right then and there. “I’ve only known him for two weeks. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but most of my relationships do _not_ turn out that great in the long run because I don’t take the time to get to know the person I’m dating. I don’t want things to turn out that way with John because, to be honest, I really like him, and I don’t think it would be good for you guys to intrude.”

“Okay, first of all, no,” Angelica said, like that explained everything. “We _know_ you suck at keeping up relationships. We _know_ you want to get to know him. We _know_ you really like him. But let’s be honest here, you’re not very skilled in the emotional department.”

“Okay, sure, fine, I get that,” Alex said. “But what’s your point?”

“My point is, we want to make sure you don’t fuck up without intruding,” Angelica said. “So we figure the safest way to do that is to just… not intrude. We’re leaving you two alone, and we have a bunch of romcoms here for you to watch.” She gestured to a stack of DVDs that Eliza was holding. “If you fuck up horribly, we’ll be there to swoop in with our invaluable advice, and if you prove you can handle yourself, well, we won’t talk about this again.”

“So this talk was just letting me know you know how I feel about John and warning me not to fuck things up?” Alex summarized.

“Yes,” Angelica agreed. “You see, we had this elaborate month-long dating plan that we were going to make you follow, but we just decided to hang back a little.”

Eliza handed Alex the stack of DVDs. “Okay, the rest of us are going to leave, now. We have to drop Hercules and Lafayette off on a date, and Maria and I are going to the mall.”

“You know, because they’re not one, but two couples who are _actually_ in a relationship,” Peggy pointed out.

“Stop attacking me,” Alex whined. When the rest of them were about to leave, he thought of something and called, “Wait!”

“Hmm?” Angelica asked.

“Can you guys, um… can you find out if John likes me or not?” He felt so completely and utterly exposed asking the question.

Nobody seemed to notice how uncomfortable he was. “We can try,” Peggy said.

“I’m good at getting things out of people,” Hercules offered. “I’ll do it.”

“Alright, roll out,” Angelica said once things had been decided, and everyone exited Alex’s bedroom.

“John!” Peggy shouted, and John groggily raised his head to look at them. “Angelica and I have to go home and help our dad with something, Laf and Herc are going on a date, and Eliza and Maria are going on a date, so we’re leaving you and Alex alone.”

“That’s cool,” John remarked.

Not a minute later, John and Alex were sitting on the couch together. The silence was torture.

“So,” Alex said finally, “Eliza brought romcoms for us to watch.”

John immediately shot up and scooted closer to him. He looked him dead in the eyes and said, “I _love_ romcoms,” with conviction and intensity that Alex himself normally only reserved for when he was talking about politics and/or lesbian couples. “Did she bring _10 Things I Hate About You_?” John asked, prompting Alex to search through the stack of movies. “That’s my favorite romantic comedy of all time.”

“Um, it’s right here,” Alex said, handing John the movie so he could put it in. “What’s it about?”

Once he’d put the movie in, he sat back down and launched straight into a very detailed explanation of the plot. “Okay, so, you have an older sister and a younger sister. The older sister is kind of bitchy, and she doesn’t like the idea of dating boys. The younger sister really wants to date boys. But the rule in their house is that the younger sister can’t date until the older sister gets her first boyfriend, so the younger sister tries to set her up with Heath Ledger.”

“It’s _The Taming of the Shrew_ ,” Alex realized when John was finished explaining.

“I _know_ , and it’s _great_ ,” John said, practically bouncing up and down with excitement.

And it only took Alex five seconds to start staring; in his defense, John just seemed like someone who was made to stare at. He was always so expressive when he spoke, so fluid with his movement; it was hard _not_ to stare at someone so beautiful.

They watched _10 Things I Hate About You_ and launched straight into _When Harry Met Sally_ , then into _Much Ado About Nothing_ (the Kenneth Branagh version) and _Sleepless In Seattle_. Everything was going really well, seeing as by the second movie they were cuddling very intensely, but then, Washington interrupted them by calling him.

“Hold on, I have a call I gotta take,” he told John, who reluctantly untangled himself from him to allow him to stand up.

Alex went into his room, shutting the door behind him, and sat on his bed. “What is it this time?” he asked.

“I’ve just gotten word from authorities that the Crowned has broken the Gemini Unit—two villains, not one—out of prison. That only leaves one villain left for him to break out. It’s likely he’ll have the Gemini Unit attack the city in some sort of coordination with Demolition Beta and the Duplicate later today or tomorrow,” Washington explained. “I want you to be ready to defend the city at all costs. Remember what I told you about getting Zero on our side and what I told you about finding his true identity so he can help you defend the White House without having to worry about going to school. Remember, Alex, the fate of the United States rests in your hands.”

Alex nodded. “Will do,” he said, then hung up.

His brain felt like it was overheating with everything Washington was telling him to remember. He had to be on guard for seven _billion_ things at once on _top_ of having to convince Zero to join their side _and_ figure out his identity. And what was with the whole ‘The fate of the United States rests in your hands?’ Washington couldn’t have spared him some of the responsibility?

When he returned to the living room, he felt like he was running completely on worry.

“Oh, hey! You’re back,” John acknowledged with a smile.

“Yeah,” Alex said, taking a seat.

“Hey, did you finish the History powerpoint that’s due on Friday?” John asked. “If so, can you please help me with mine? Not that I don’t know how to do it; I’m just lazy.”

Alex felt himself prickle with mild discontent. “Yes, John, I finished it, and I can help you.”

“What about that Calc worksheet? Can I copy that?” he asked.

He twitched at the question. “Sure, John.”

“You know, we have a test on Friday. Maybe you and I could study together?”

“That would be nice,” he said, but for some reason, he felt so overwhelmingly annoyed at John’s innocent suggestion.

“On the subject of tests, we have that big cumulative vocab test in Lit. I feel like all of us need to worry about that.”

“Mhm.”

“And we’ve got the Chem midterm in, like, three weeks.”

“Yeah, I’m aware.”

“And then we’ve got P.E. testing, too.”

“Sure.”

“And then we have the APUSH test next week. Christ, don’t forget to study for that one—”

And something inside him just _snapped_. It was like he was a fuse which had burned itself all the way down connected to an explosive. He just got more and more irritated until his irritation turned into anger and he started to go off.

He stood up, and he let the words tumble out of his mouth with no common sense deployed to stop them. “God, you don’t think I know what I need to worry about? Of _course_ I do! I’m sick of everyone reminding me of what I need to get done.”

“Alex—”

“I know what needs to get done and I’ll do it, but if people keep constantly telling me to do it, I’ll be so worried about doing it that I won’t do it _well_ or _right_ or in a way that _won’t_ allow the collapse of the entire country. Alex, do this, Alex, remember to do that— I just wish everyone would shut up. And you, John, you’re not helping. Fucking, ‘Alex, let me copy off of your shit because I’m too lazy to learn the material myself and do my own work’ and ‘Alex, you should worry about that test I’m telling you about that you were already studying for in the first place’ and fucking ‘Alex, I want to be friends with you but I’m going to make it as hard as possible by withholding information from you and refusing to open up emotionally!’ Not to mention ‘Alex, it’s obvious that my dad physically and emotionally abuses me, but I’m still going to pretend like he doesn’t to avoid facing reality because that’s easier for me.’ Fucking hell.”

John looked at him so blankly, so _glassily_ that Alex immediately realized the impact of what he said. And boy, did the regret hit him _hard_.

“Oh god, John, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it—”

He reached to put his hand on John’s shoulder and was expecting a ‘Don’t touch me’ or something similar, but instead he got a shaky, “D-don’t hurt me.”

“Laurens, wait!” he called as John walked outside. He ran to follow him, but stopped short on the front porch when he realized that John was already gone.

_Great,_ he thought. _They leave you alone for a few hours and you just_ have _to go and fuck everything up._


	13. John Laurens Contains 420% of the Daily Value of Sodium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> john is B I T T E R also there's more making out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well wa-ha da-ding-ding choo-choo hey-haw! we're almost halfway through!

John didn’t open up to people because it gave them more chances to hurt him. _This_ was why he didn’t open up to people. He and Alex had only known each other for two weeks, and Alex already knew where to hit him where it hurt the most.

Worst of all, everything he’d said that hurt John had been right.

It was hard for John to connect to people because he closed himself off so adamantly. John ignored his problems with his father instead of trying to fix them because he didn’t want them to interfere with his personal life. Yes, Alex had been right about those things, but he was still an asshole, and John was still pissed.

He opened the front door of his house and froze when he saw his father standing in the living room. His father’s eyes were immediately drawn to John’s movement, and they locked onto him when he took a cautious step inside. John couldn’t read his father’s expression, an ignorance which caused his stomach to twist in fear.

His father stepped towards him, and John sputtered to defend himself, “D-dad, I— I didn’t mean to—”

“You didn’t mean to what?” At the coldness of his father’s tone, his hands began to shake. “Where were you while I was gone, Jack?”

His father’s use of his nickname made him nauseous. “I-I was at my friend’s house,” he explained carefully. “He was sick, too. We watched movies.”

“Was it that Alex boy?”

“Yeah.”

“Were you two alone?”

“Well, um, all of his friends were there at first, but they left. So, uh, we were alone. But all we did was watch movies, I swear,” John explained hurriedly, hoping that it would be sufficient enough for his father to drop all suspicion.

It wasn’t. “You’re lying.” John pressed himself up against the door as his father approached him and violently grabbed him by the collar of his T-shirt. “You pretended to be sick this morning, ditched class, and snuck off to his house while I was gone so he could give it to you up the ass!”

“No, dad, please, you have to believe me,” he begged, a dull, phantom ache coursing through the place where his cheek had been bruised. “I-I wasn’t pretending to be sick. And w-we weren’t doing anything, just watching movies, I swear!” _Please don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me,_ he thought over and over again, feeling tears start to well up in his eyes.

“You’re _lying_!” his father repeated, this time with more force.

“I’m not lying!” he sobbed out in a hoarse voice, raising his arms in front of his face to protect himself.

His father lifted an open palm, but instead of making a move to hit him like he’d been expecting, he pressed it to John’s forehead to check his temperature. “Okay, Jacky, you’re not lying,” he said softly after a moment, pulling his son into an unexpected hug.

Instead of feeling safe or comforted, John felt like he was about to suffocate any second. He was flooded with relief when his father finally let go of him. “Sorry,” he said, but he wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for.

“It’s okay, I forgive you.” His father paused, then changed the subject. “The Senate is in recess. I’m leaving tonight to go back to South Carolina for a few weeks. I trust you enough to take care of yourself, so you’re not coming with me.”

John couldn’t suppress the excitement that bubbled up inside of him in response. His father was leaving him alone? All by himself? God, he would have so much freedom; he would be in the presence of something that was so foreign to him. All the things he would be able to do rushed through his head: he would be able to hang out with his friends without having to worry about curfews, go anywhere in the city he wanted without having to worry about getting hit when he got home, sleep over at Alex’s house—

Okay, maybe not the last one. John still had a grudge to hold, and he wasn’t going to let it go so easily. For now, though, he decided it was best for him to forget about it.

“Are you leaving right now?” John asked, trying not to sound as hopeful as he felt.

“Yes,” his father confirmed, and John almost started crying tears of happiness. “I don’t think you’re sick enough for me to take you to the doctor, so I figure there’s no reason for me to delay my departure.”

“Okay, bye, dad,” John said with a simple wave, not stopping to give him a hug before rushing upstairs into his room.

_Forget about it, my ass,_ was the first thing he thought when he flopped down on his bed after hearing the front door close. John ignored the multitude of texts he’d received from Alex and instead replayed the things that’d happened after school— not the shitty things, but the relatively okay things.

Alex’s friends had left the two of them alone after privately speaking to him in his room, which made for a suspicious scenario in and of itself, but then Eliza had given Alex romantic comedies for then to watch. It was pretty obvious that they were being set up on a date, or something that was intended to be a date. And John hadn’t minded, because they’d gotten to watch one of his favorite movies of all time. But he’d stopped focusing on the movie once he’d realized how much he was enjoying the physical contact between him and Alex.

_Even though he_ did _act like the biggest asshole to ever exist tonight, it’s completely possible that I have feelings for him,_ John told himself. _Do I really, though?_ Conveniently, a wave of apathy swept through him, and when he looked inside himself for answers, he was met with emptiness. _Wonderful,_ he thought. _Now is the perfect time to stop giving a shit as a coping mechanism._

Out of sheer boredom, he decided to read through Alex’s texts.

**hamilton:** john  
**hamilton:** john please talk to me i’m so sorry for what i said tonight  
**hamilton:** i know i really hurt you but i want to apologize, please talk to me

He was feeling particularly bitchy that night, so he typed out a response.

**me:** no? you just want to apologize to me so i can forgive you and you can be satisfied having the absolute guarantee of our friendship. because of what you said, i don’t have the guarantee of your friendship, so why should you have the guarantee of mine?

He was almost feeling bitchy enough to type the entire thing using perfect grammar. _Almost_. Once he sent the text, he started ignoring both Alex and his feelings again.

For most of the remaining school week, he refused to talk to Alex. He still sat with his friends in the morning and at lunch, but he made it obvious that he was spiting Alex in particular. Alex would try to talk to him in History, so he gave him the most curt answers possible; it was hard to give him the silent treatment in that class, since they sat next to each other. Outside of class, John was so blatant about it that everyone else in their friend group noticed what what was happening between him and Alex—either that or Alex had briefed them on the situation—and they said and did things to try to get them to talk to each other. Their attempts failed, for the most part.

Nothing happened until after school on Thursday. He was at home when his internal alarm went off, replacing his constant bitterness towards Alex with adrenaline. His stomach filled with butterflies when he realized he was going to get to see the Hurricane for the first time in a few days. His stupid crush made him feel like he was in fucking middle school.

When he teleported away, he lost his balance on the landing and fell forward. He felt the Hurricane catch him, and looked up. “U-um, hey,” he said rather eloquently.

“Hey,” the Hurricane returned with a laugh, helping John stand back on his feet.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking out upon the crumbling street and crowds of screaming people frantically attempting to get into the underground shelters as the alarms rang out and electricity crackled in the air.

“Well, the Crowned broke the Gemini Unit, two fuck-os for the price of one, out of prison. Washington says this isn’t an attack coordinated with Demolition Beta and the Duplicate, just a ‘test run’ to let the public see what they’re capable of,” the Hurricane explained.

“So what’s the plan?” John asked, ready to step into action to distract himself from all of the emotions swirling around in his head.

“Since I’m gonna go airborne, I’m going to be vulnerable. I can’t defend myself while I’m focusing on trying to take them out,” the Hurricane told him, and John found it hard to stay focused on his words when his eyes were so magnetic. “I need you to fly with me and deflect any attacks that might come our way. Then, I’m going to swoop in close and try to knock them out.”

John nodded, pulling himself back into reality. “Got it,” he said, and the two of them leapt into the air.

Immediately, rivulets of blue colored electricity shot out at them from where the Gemini Unit was standing at the top of an apartment building. John swerved between them and the Hurricane, continuously firing sonic booms to keep their attacks from connecting.

The Hurricane fired blasts of wind at the Unit, which they managed to dodge every single time whilst remaining unrelenting with their attacks. _I can’t hit them from this long of a range,_ the Hurricane told him. _We’re going to need to get closer if we want to have any chance at detaining them._

_Great,_ he replied, following the Hurricane to the top of the apartment building. _We’re going to be even more vulnerable._

_Did you forget you could teleport?_ the Hurricane asked jokingly, hurrying to sprint out of the way as a succession of lightning bolts came straight for him. John teleported in front of him when the attacks started shifting the other way, knocking away every single one.

_If I keep teleporting away to protect_ myself _, how am I gonna be able to protect you?_

The Hurricane didn’t say anything in response, just dashed forward. One half of the Gemini Unit came around to attack from behind, while the other half stayed put and shot at the Hurricane head on. John turned around and started floating backwards so he could advance whilst being able to see and effectively fight off the other Gemini.

The Hurricane landed once he reached Gemini One—distinguishable from the other only by the scar running across his nose—and ran towards him, firing off blasts of wind along the way. As Gemini Two ran around to join One, John turned around.

He realized a bit too late that he probably should’ve focused on Two instead of turning around and was hit in the temple by a bolt of electricity. He flew to the side and landed hard on the ground, now forced to deal with the paralyzing aftereffects of the lightning bolt.

It felt like a brainfreeze, only infinitely worse and more immobilizing. As he lie there, he vaguely felt the Hurricane ask him, _Are you okay?_ with some level of concern, as well as something wet and metallic-scented running down from his nose into his mouth. He wiped under his nose and looked down to see his hand come away covered in blood.

He was forced to ignore it and spring into action when he saw Gemini Two coming at the Hurricane from behind. He teleported between the two of them just as Gemini Two shot an attack at the Hurricane and ended up with a chestful of electricity. Luckily, after he was hit, his heart was still beating and he was still able to move and defend himself.

_Zero, are you good?_ the Hurricane asked him.

_Yeah,_ he responded, ignoring the splitting headache he’d acquired from Gemini Two’s first attack. _Kinda shitty, but I’ll live._

_Great. You get the one that was about to beat the shit out of you, and_ I’ll _get the one I was about to beat the shit out of,_ the Hurricane said, making John roll his eyes.

_He got me twice. He hardly beat the shit out of me,_ John retorted. _If anything, he was about to beat the shit out of_ you _and I stopped him from doing it._

_Sure. Just kick his ass now._

Neither John nor the Hurricane got the chance to do any ass-kicking, because before either of them could make a move, Gemini Two rejoined Gemini One at the front and an orange portal started swirling behind them. They jumped in, with the Hurricane shouting his protests.

“God, what the _hell_?” the Hurricane asked aloud once the portal disappeared. “I thought she was done working for the Crowned.”

“What?” John asked. “Who? What’s going on?”

“The girl who kidnapped you; she’s a friend of mine. She was working for the Crowned out of fear of what he would do to her girlfriend, and I thought she was done with him, but I guess he threatened her _again_ ,” the Hurricane sighed. “I really need to get her in contact with Washington so that doesn’t happen again.” He paused, then turned to look at him. “Speaking of Washington—”

“No,” John cut him off. “The answer is no.” He shook his head, trying to clear his head of unnecessary thoughts. However, he just ended up making it pound even more. “I just don’t want to work with you that closely until I’m sure I can trust you.”

The Hurricane stared at him for a long time, then asked, “Do you want to go to the garden? I mean, it _is_ kinda turning into The Sitcom Coffee Shop for us.”

“Sure,” John said with a nod, welcoming the familiarity of the garden. He grabbed the Hurricane’s hand and teleported the two of them away. When they landed on one of the benches, he remarked, “It’s already dark outside.”

“It’s 6 or 7 o’clock right now,” the Hurricane offered.

John did _not_ waste time, especially since he’d grown very confused over the past week about his relationship with Alex. He shifted closer, then pressed his lips to the Hurricane’s. He didn’t care that his nose was gushing with blood, or that he was sick, or that he had a splitting headache; the fact that’d he’d been ignoring and bottling up his emotions for almost a week made him disregard all that. As he draped his arms over the Hurricane’s shoulders and felt him moving against him, John found a strange feeling of exposure blossoming in his stomach. _Where’s that coming from?_ he thought. Then, to distract himself, he thought, _I wonder what he’s thinking about now?_

He identified what was making him so uncomfortable and pulled away abruptly. “I don’t want this,” he said, watching carefully for a reaction as the Hurricane wiped John’s blood off of his mouth.

“Why not?” he asked, placing a hand under John’s chin and studying his face intently.

“I don’t want to kiss you if you’re going to be thinking of someone else,” John explained, finding it near impossible to concentrate under the Hurricane’s stare. “I don’t want you to project your feelings for someone else onto me. I think that’s really unhealthy for the both of us.”

The Hurricane raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, ‘the both of us?’ Are you unhealthily projecting your feelings for someone else onto me?” His mouth twisted into a little half-smile.

“Shut up,” was the most intelligent thing John could think of to say in response.

“Zero, I really wanna kiss you right now,” the Hurricane said after a long pause. “Even though you’re all bloody.”

John closed the gap, marking the third time the two of them had made out together. _I wonder how gentle Alex would be with my_ incredibly fragile _body,_ he thought to himself as he was shoved to the ground, shivering when he felt the Hurricane’s teeth graze the skin under his ear and jawline.

“Stop,” he said when the Hurricane started to suck on his Adam’s apple. Thankfully, the Hurricane pulled away, allowing John to sit up and wipe off all the blood and saliva covering his face and its surrounding areas. “Listen, I want to talk about my feelings. Not towards you, necessarily. Just in general.”

“Okay, what’s going on?” the Hurricane asked, sitting up along with him.

“Well, there’s this guy, and I think he likes me, but I don’t really like him back,” John started. “I mean, I’m gay as hell, just not for him. At least, that’s what I thought until he acted like an asshole to me and I got bitter by ignoring him for the whole week. I think that experience sort of made me realize that I kind of maybe have a little bit of romantic feelings for him. And now I regret being bitter and I want to accept his apology, but I’m too embarrassed to.”

“I am literally in that exact same situation, except I’m the asshole guy who likes the other guy,” the Hurricane explained. “And I really want to apologize, but he won’t let me. Take it from me, Zero: he probably realizes he royally fucked up and wants to fix it now. So you should let him apologize, because if he really understands that he hurt you, the apology will be sincere.”

All of a sudden, John felt crushing guilt for acting so bitter towards Alex for so long. “Yeah, okay. I should at least let him talk about what he’s been feeling. I should get going now.”

“Alright. Bye,” the Hurricane said.

“Bye.”

John teleported back to his house. Once he’d taken a shower and dressed himself in sweatpants and a T-shirt, he went ahead and shot Alex a text.

**me:** hey. i kind of feel guilty for ignoring you and i really want to talk about what happened.  
**hamilton:** i’m sorry.  
**me:** sorry for what? you used those words to hurt me, now you’re gonna use those words to elaborate and formulate a proper apology.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been so harsh. Oh, well.

**hamilton:** i’m sorry for intentionally bringing up a sensitive subject and using it as a way to insult you. i understand how big of a problem what i referenced is in you life, and i understand it hurt you by criticizing your response to your situation and, again, using it as an insult.  
**me:** and i’m sorry for ignoring you out of spite instead of attempting to properly communicate with you.  
**me:** i accept your apology  
**hamilton:** and i accept yours ;)))))) does this mean i can start sending you memes again without it being awkward  
**me:** i never gave you permission to send me memes in the first place  
**hamilton** sent a picture  
**me:** ….you meme a lot to me, too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah yes,,,,,  
> \+ if you're wondering why burr and john's siblings aren't in this, it's because if i included them there would be too mANY HECKING SIDE CHARACTERS  
> also, let's be honest here, what would burr do for the plot? lmao


	14. Romantic Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -alex and maria casually have a conversation through text about her involvement with a terrorist  
> -gay dates  
> -"what'd i miss?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those of you wondering: we have like five chapters left until the Revelation™ is made, if you want to prepare for it or some shit idk

Alex was able to pinpoint the exact moment he’d fallen in love (maybe love was a strong word, but hey, his brain liked to immediately jump to extremes) with Zero Frequency.

It was when he said, _If I keep teleporting away to protect_ myself _, how am I gonna protect you?_

In that moment, he’d absolutely wanted to die, because his affections had started to outweigh his will to live (though, the ratio might’ve been fabricated entirely by his mind for the purpose of dramatics). It didn’t help matters that Zero could sense that he’d been using him to get over his crush on John, which, even though he’d developed feelings for Zero, he _still_ wasn’t through with. He wasn’t sure about how either of them felt about him, which only served to complicate things further.

Oh, yeah, also, there was a _supervillain trying to take control of the United States government_. Christ, he needed to pull himself together enough to ignore his feelings for a minute and focus on the real problem at hand: the Crowned, of course. The Crowned was gaining more power with every one of his followers that he broke out of prison, and soon, he would have enough power to make his move on the White House.

_Election Day,_ Alex reminded himself. _Or when the President gets sworn in. He’ll attack during a time when the United States is politically vulnerable. Before then, he’ll keep trying to get rid of me and Zero to minimize the threats to him. I’m not sure if he’ll shift his focus from attacking the city to attacking the White House, but it wouldn’t make sense not to target the government with all of his firepower._

Thinking about the Crowned’s plans reminded him of something he needed to do. He went to go text Maria.

**me:** maria  
**maria:** what?????  
**me:** are you? still? working for the crowned???¿¿¿??  
**maria:** no i’m done i swear  
**me:** okay because i need to get you in contact with washington so you can work with us and you’re as safe as possible  
**maria:** washington.  
**maria:** as in george?  
**me:** yes  
**maria:** as in  
**me:** yes  
**maria:** the president  
**me:** yes  
**maria:** of the united states  
**me:** yes  
**maria:** …  
**maria:** okay cool tell him to hmu  
**me:** i will when he calls me next. in the mean time try not to do anything too supervillain-y  
**me:** also!  
**me:** when you two talk, can you tell him who zero is? he’s trying to get him on independent study so we can ditch school to guard the white house or some shit idk  
**maria:** yeah i just :/ don’t really wanna tell you, y’know?????  
**me:** yeah that’s fine, wash just wants to know  
**me:** is he even still in high school?  
**maria:** idk man, don’t ask me  
**me:** :///////////////////// m a r i a  
**maria:** a l e x a n d e r

Seeing as their conversation had pretty much run its course and he wasn’t going to get any information about Zero out of her, Alex put his phone away and went to bed early. He figured that he should take the chance to catch up on sleep while he still had it.

After school on Friday, Alex went to the Schuylers’ house to spend time with Eliza. That day, Peggy was home, but Angelica was out doing volunteer work.

“So, Alex,” Eliza began, taking a seat on the couch and starting to thumb through a magazine, “I was wondering if you wanted to go on a triple date tomorrow?”

“You and Maria, Herc and Laf, and me and John?” Alex guessed, trying to hide the fact that he was growing increasingly excited at the prospect of getting to spend more time with John outside of school.

_I may be trying to stop a supervillain from taking over the United States, but I have a social life, too,_ Alex tried to justify himself when he began to internally scold his romantic desires. _Honestly, as long as I don’t let it distract me, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem._

“Yeah,” Eliza confirmed with a nod, drawing his thought process to a halt. “I was thinking we could go to the mall and just hang out there for a while, then go to the sushi place nearby for lunch.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Alex said. “Let’s hope it doesn’t turn out crappy like every other date people in our friend group have gone on this school year. Did you already ask the others?”

“They all said they could come,” Eliza told him. “Maria’s going to pick us up tomorrow morning.” She put her magazine down, then turned to look at Alex and said, “You know, I think John knows we’re trying to find out whether or not he likes you.”

Alex felt the tips of his ears turn red. “Um, what?” he deadpanned. God, if John found out about his _massive crush_ on him, it would most likely demolish any chance of the two of them even being friends; John would probably get so self-conscious that he wouldn’t open up to Alex at all, and Alex would stop trying to get him to open up out of fear that he was making him uncomfortable, and—

“I mean, Hercules was pretty subtle about trying to find out, but then Lafayette joined in,” Eliza explained. “I don’t think he knows you like him, though; just that we’re trying to find out.” The last sentence came out as more of a hurried afterthought, like she threw it in just to stop him from worrying.

He appreciated the sentiment, but it wasn’t really working. “Uh, yeah,” he agreed. “Sure. Laf just has a habit of saying too much.” If he seemed nervous on the outside, on the inside, he was on the brink of having a complete emotional breakdown. His mind was pretty much a mess of, _Oh god, what if he’s known this whole time and he’s been trying to distance himself from me?_ and _What if he wants nothing to do with me and he only talks to me because he likes talking to my friends?_ and _What if he wants nothing to do with me and he only talks to me because he feels_ sorry _for me?_ and, perhaps most irrationally of all, _What if he knows I’m the Hurricane and doesn’t want anything to do with me because of that?_

“I’m sure you two will get together by the end of the year,” Eliza commented, going back to reading her magazine. “You know, you two just… fit together. I can’t really explain it, but it’s something that everyone can see. It’s like… John and Alex, Alex and John. You two are each other’s complement.”

That served to calm him down a fair bit, because okay, Eliza, someone who cared for him very much and whose opinion he valued greatly, thought they would make the perfect couple. _I really hope she’s right,_ Alex thought. _I care about him a lot. I hope he’s able to recognize that before he stops caring about_ himself _._

Time passed with the two of them sitting there in silence until Eliza sat bolt upright and said, “Alexander! The superheroes are gay!”

He was confused, and reasonably so. “What?” he asked.

Eliza scooted closer to Alex and showed him the page she’d been reading, which was titled “Crime-Fighting Partners Or Something More?” To the right of the title was a surprisingly high-quality picture of—

Oh, god. That was the Hurricane and Zero, making out. It took him far longer than it should have to realize that _yes_ , he was the Hurricane, and _yes_ , that was a picture of _him_ making out with Zero. In a newspaper to which millions of people in America were subscribed.

He forced himself to read the article in his head. _This Thursday, D.C. was attacked by the Gemini Unit, two powerful criminals working for the infamous supervillain, the Crowned. The United States’ only two known and active superheroes, the Hurricane and Zero Frequency, were spotted trying to take down the Gemini Unit at the scene as bystanders evacuated. Just minutes after the attack had resolved itself, this picture of the two locking lips was snapped by a citizen at a public library and uploaded to social media. Since then, the image has gone viral, and experts have confirmed that the two in the picture are indeed the Hurricane and Zero Frequency. The question on everyone’s minds: are the two dating? This evidence makes it pretty difficult to say otherwise._

Alex felt like throwing himself into the sun. Sure, he admitted that he secretly liked all of the attention people had started to give him overnight and the nation’s seemingly positive reaction to his hypothetical relationship with Zero, but at the same time, he didn’t want his personal life to be the public’s business. Yes, he was wearing a mask in that picture that everyone used to identify himself as the Hurricane, but there was still a person named Alexander behind that mask. He didn’t want the media to forget that.

_I mean, I guess respect for basic human rights goes out the window once the media starts idolizing you and treating you like an object,_ Alex thought, feeling slightly pretentious and conceited that he would phrase his complaint in such a way or even that he would make a complaint about the situation at all. _Whatever. I guess my relationship status gives the people a nice distraction from the blatant terrorism and attempts to usurp the government going on in D.C.._

“Isn’t it great, Alex?” Eliza asked, clutching the magazine tightly. “I still can’t believe what I just read! Think about it: two superheroes known for protecting the U.S. capitol who the younger population looks up to, and it’s highly likely they might be in a same-sex relationship? Definitely a look on the brighter side, what with the crisis going on over here.”

Alex felt every single ounce of disdain at once leave his body at Eliza’s excitement. “Yeah, you’re right,” he agreed. “Maybe seeing gay superheroes in real life will finally prompt the media to actually write about normal LGBT+ people in their fiction.”

“I think that what’s so great about it is that if the media starts including more representation in its fiction, minority communities will finally get to see that their stories are worth being told,” Eliza went on. “After all, not everyone will leave as lasting a legacy as the Hurricane and Zero Frequency because not everyone is a superhero. Most of us are more super _normal_ than super _natural_. No one should have to be a superhero for their story to be worth being told. Even the superheroes know that. On the flip side, they don’t even make it a priority to worry about their story being told, with the things that they do. All they have to worry about is keeping others from harm so _their_ stories have a chance to be told. It’s noble, working for the people and the country rather than yourself.”

When Eliza finished, Alex felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and his insides churn uncomfortably. “Yeah. Working to help others rather than to leave a lasting legacy, which they could just as easily do. Really noble stuff.”

Alex spent the night at Eliza’s house and got ready the next morning for the triple-date. At 10:00, Maria pulled into Eliza’s driveway with John, Herc, and Laf already in the car. They’d saved shotgun for Eliza specifically (as Lafayette had so vehemently clarified), so Alex took a seat at John’s feet.

“Hey,” he said, rolling his head back into an uncomfortable position to look at John.

“Hey,” John returned, lightly kneeing Alex in the back of the head.

“Did you guys hear about the gay superheroes?” Eliza jumped in immediately.

“Lafayette won’t stop talking to us about it,” John sighed, nodding in Hercules’s direction.

“Is this not exciting?” Laf asked, lips forming into an exaggerated pout.

“It was exciting the first time,” Hercules remarked.

“Okay, but… they’re gay,” Eliza repeated. “And most of us are gay. Meaning that we can identify with the most famous vigilantes in the country on a deep and personal level. It’s _exciting_!”

“They haven’t even said whether or not they’re in a relationship yet,” John pointed out.

“And they probably won’t be any time soon,” Alex added. “It’s likely they value their privacy. Plus, they’re focused completely on defeating the Crowned. They’re not gonna take the time to divulge the secrets of their personal lives when they could be working out a way to get rid of the nation's most wanted supervillain.”

“Good point, Alex,” Maria acknowledged, and it made him uncomfortable knowing that she knew he was speaking as a primary source. “But the two of them _did_ kiss, and it looked pretty… _not_ ‘just friendly.’” She gave him a pointed look through the rearview mirror, and just like that, he wanted to fling himself into the sun all over again.

“So are you guys assuming that they’re dating, or aren’t you?” Alex asked, eager to move on to a different conversation topic.

“Alexander, what _else_ does the picture say about their relationship?” Lafayette asked in an exasperated tone, expelling an unnecessarily large breath.

“I agree, but we shouldn’t disrespect them by talking about it like it’s for certain,” Eliza said. “After all, they’re people, too.”

Alex breathed a sigh of relief.

“So, when we get there, where do you guys wanna go first?” Maria asked.

“Hot Topic,” he and John said at the same time. Needless to say, their suggestion was ironic— at least, Alex hoped it was ironic on John’s part as well.

Alex turned to look at John in the most cheesily loving way possible. John returned his look, and the two of them held each other’s gazes for about five seconds before bursting out into laughter.

When Alex looked up, Eliza gave him a look that was probably supposed to convey something like, _What did I tell you?_

Alex had to admit that Eliza was right when it came to him and John having chemistry, but love was so much more than just _chemistry_. Love was perseverance—sticking around when things got ugly—and love was compassion— caring for the other person when they needed it by taking into account their emotions. Love was communication—being able to get each other’s feelings across to each other—and love was understanding— being able to take those feelings into consideration. For Alex to be able to do all of those things, John needed to let him to.

“Well, it was your choice. We’re going to Hot Topic first,” Maria told them.

“Sucks for us, but it’s probably great for the two of you,” Alex sighed, gesturing to Maria and Eliza.

Eliza turned back to look at him and blinked with wide eyes. “Alex, don’t pretend like you didn’t go through an _emo_ phase in the seventh grade—”

“It’s not a phase!” he mock-complained, in the process doing what he did best: diffusing his own embarrassment by cracking a spur-of-the-moment joke.

When they got inside the store, John immediately pulled him aside, and that was the third time within the span of 24 hours that he acquired the urge to hurl himself into the sun.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” John looked up at him, and Alex stared into his eyes with some cliché pop-punk sound about how much the lead singer hated his town playing in the background. “Well, two things, actually.”

“Alright,” Alex said. “Go ahead. It’s not like we’re here to look at the merch, or anything.”

“First: do you still want me… helping you find out about Zero Frequency?” John asked, and he winced when he said his name.

Alex shook his head, taking the opportunity to absolve John of participating in the danger. “No. I don’t want you to get hurt. Besides, I have a way to find out about him on my own. Sorry for trying to get you involved in the first place.”

“It’s okay. I still don’t think you should be getting yourself into trouble like that, but I guess I can’t really do anything to stop you,” John sighed.

“John, I swear to you that whatever I do, I’ll be safe doing it,” Alex promised, and the two of them just stared at each other until the final guitar chord of the song played and faded out. Alex asked, “So, what’s your next question?”

John didn’t say anything for a while, so Alex let himself space out. _Wow, his eyes are really pretty,_ he thought to himself. _All of him is bright, but his eyes are somehow even brighter. They’re like… solar flares,_ he decided. _More prominent. And his freckles; they’re like little sunspots. Or skin stars. I could probably find a million constellations if I looked close enough—_

“Alex, do you like me? Like, romantically? Have a crush on me?”

Alex’s first instinct was to lie, so like an idiot, that was what he did. “No, I just like you as a friend,” he answered, and with every word that came out of his mouth, it sent a physical, almost stabbing pain through his chest.

“Okay, that’s cool,” John said, and he didn’t look particularly disappointed. “I just wanted to know.”

When John walked away to find Maria, Alex quickly found himself drowning in his own regret. _Shit, I’m so fucking_ stupid _. I should’ve just told him how I feel and gotten it over with._

He paused to stop beating himself up for a moment and think rationally. _No, it’s perfectly okay. Better to stay friends than for things to be awkward between the two of you. Besides, this date_ hasn’t _gone to shit yet. I should try to salvage my emotional state for the sake of everyone else._

Making a conscious attempt to salvage his emotional state worked, and it worked pretty well. They shopped around a little, went to eat sushi, then stayed at Eliza’s house for the rest of the day. When Alex got back home, though, his emotional state once again threatened to completely collapse on him because Washington called as soon as he lied down on his bed.

_What now?_ Alex thought, considering declining Washington’s call to spare himself the anxiety. He couldn’t bring himself to, though, so he just answered it and prepared himself for the worst.

“Don’t worry, Alex, it’s not bad news,” was the first thing Washington said, and Alex felt his entire body relax. “In fact, it’s good news.”

“What is it?” Alex asked.

“I’ve called for help from France. They’re sending one of their superheroes, the Liberator, over to work with us,” Washington said.

“Oh my god, thank you so much,” Alex nearly sobbed, incredibly grateful for any aid that might’ve been sent their way. He was dealing with so much, he would happily welcome anyone who would share the responsibility with him.

“We’ve already got everything taken care of, so the two of you will first meet on Monday,” Washington explained.

“Oh!” Alex interjected, remembering to tell Washington something that was relevant to the conversation. “Another thing. That girl who helped the Crowned kidnap Zero Frequency? She was blackmailed into doing it. I actually know her personally, so I wanted to get her in contact with you so she’s safe from the Crowned’s influence and she can help fight him with the rest of us. Is that okay?”

“Yes, wonderful. We need all the help we can get,” Washington said. “Of course, because of her contact with the Crowned, we’ll have to take some safety precautions, but other than that, I’d be happy to get her on our side. Have a nice evening, Alex. Get plenty of sleep this weekend so you can be ready for Monday.”

Alex grinned. “Will do, dad,” he said, then hung up.

He was so excited, he could hardly go to sleep; what they were doing was slowly but surely forming a team to go up against the Crowned’s, and the idea was too appealing for him to stop thinking about. He couldn’t wait to work with Maria and the Liberator, and _eventually_ Zero. They were sure to be a force to be reckoned with.

Unfortunately, something happened Monday morning that spoiled Alex’s good mood.

He approached his friends before school to see Peggy frantically whispering something to John that ended with the words “…but don’t tell Alex, okay?”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell Alex what?” he asked, cautiously setting his backpack down.

“Nothing!” Eliza answered quickly, flashing a smile.

“It doesn’t _sound_ like nothing,” Alex concluded, glancing over at Lafayette to see them frantically texting someone. “Who are you texting?”

“Oh, no one!” Lafayette assured him.

“Don’t be so secretive. You can tell him it’s me.”

Alex’s entire body stiffened when the voice reached his ears. He would recognize that voice _anywhere_. That voice could raise him from his _grave_.

“Hey, y’all.” Alex gritted his teeth when he heard the telltale annoying southern accent. He turned around to find himself face to face with a familiar luscious afro and an infuriatingly cocky grin. “What’d I miss?”


	15. Thomas "I'm Not As Straight As I Thought I Was" Jefferson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> alex and john being oblivious isn't the focus of this chapter so you shouldn't get /too/ frustrated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S BEEN SO LONG I'M SO SORRY  
> I PROMISE I'LL UPDATE AGAIN TOMORROW MAYBE

Alex came for him, and Angelica and Maria had to hold him back and lift him off the ground in the process to keep him from doing something stupid that would get him suspended. He could hear Eliza’s distraught protests in the background, as well as Hercules and Peggy laughing their asses off.

“Oh, nothing much, Jeffer _shit_ ,” he spat, frantically kicking his legs out in an attempt to wriggle out of Maria and Angelica’s grasp, “just the return of the country’s most dangerous supervillain whose plan is to destroy the United States government and usurp the presidency. No big deal, though, right? I’m sure bastardizing French culture and acting like you’re above everyone because of it is much more _important_ to you.” At this, Alex started throwing punches at the air.

Jefferson blinked. “Good to know,” he drawled, seemingly unfazed by Alex’s aggression.

Alex was sure his anger was going to cause him to have an aneurysm or something just as internally destructive, but its detonation skidded to a halt when, like an angel descending from the heavens, John came into his field of vision. “Alex,” he said, putting a hand on his shoulder, “please calm down.” And shit, as soon as Alex looked into his eyes, the warmth that spread throughout his chest made him go limp.

“Sorry,” he murmured, and Maria and Angelica let him go. “I guess I just got carried away.” _God, this is so cliché,_ he couldn’t help but think with some embarrassment. _I love it when the power of true love keeps me from physically assaulting my nemesis._

Jefferson folded his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow. “Who’s this, Hamilton?” he asked. “Your new boyfr—”

“Why does everyone think John and I are dating?” Alex complained, his voice cracking. This prompted a renewed wave of laughter on Herc and Peggy’s part.

“So you’re not, then? Shame. I would’ve loved to have seen his reaction when I told him you’ve slept with half the school,” Jefferson continued, and Alex felt anger rising in him all over again.

Just as Alex was about to shoulder past John and sock Jefferson in the face, Eliza approached him and said, “Thomas, that was a low blow, even for you. I’m sure Alexander doesn’t appreciate being harassed, so I think all of us would like it if you stopped.”

 _Thank the gods for Eliza,_ Alex thought with a sigh.

Jefferson mulled over Eliza’s statement for a moment, then cleared his throat. “I do believe Eliza has a point. I’m hardly here to stir up trouble.” With that, he joined the group, sidling uncomfortably close to John. “I don’t believe we’ve introduced ourselves to each other yet. Thomas Jefferson,” he said, moving to shake John’s hand.

“John Laurens,” he returned with a slight grimace.

“Laurens?” Jefferson questioned aloud. “Say, would you happen to be—?”

“Yes,” John interrupted.

“Excellent. I’m a big fan of your father’s work,” Jefferson commented.

John gave a nervous laugh, then leaned over into Alex and whispered, “I have never wanted to kill myself more in my entire life than I do in this moment.” After saying this, John turned back towards Jefferson and offered a forced smile.

 _God, this is officially the worst day of my life,_ Alex thought.

As Jefferson sat down, Alex looked up to see his one-man-entourage, James Madison, walking towards them. Madison was mostly guilty by association, so really, there was no reason for Alex to hate him. In fact, Alex welcomed his presence, because Madison normally helped to keep Jefferson under control.

“Thomas,” was all Madison said, and Jefferson immediately hurried to kiss him on both cheeks.

“Jemmy, _mon amour_!” Jefferson exclaimed, wrapping Madison in a tight hug. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Thomas, please,” Madison complained. “They’re staring at us.”

Jefferson nodded, promptly letting go. “Everyone, I have a very important announcement.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “What is it?” he asked.

“I’m not as straight as I thought I was.”

Cue a collective gasp from the entire group.

Jefferson basked in the attention. “Yes, y’all heard correctly: I am not as straight as I thought I was. As you know, Gilbert and I sexually experimented with each other freshman year.”

“I would like to forget,” Lafayette muttered.

“After that, I decided I was straight,” Jefferson went on. “But recently, I came to realize that my lack of enjoyment of our experimentation was not caused by my assumed heterosexuality, but rather, by Gilbert’s sexual inadequacy.”

“Listen,” Hercules piped up, “my datemate is _not_ sexually inadequate. Besides, that happened two years ago. What happened to make you change your opinion about it?”

“Let’s just say that there are a lot of gay Europeans,” Jefferson said with a wink.

“That’s it,” Alex declared. “I’m done. The more I think about Jefferson’s sex life, the more I no longer want to live in this world. I pray the gods will smite me where I stand.”

Luckily, the bell rang at that moment, and Alex was spared any further social interaction with Jefferson. At the beginning of first period, the first thing John said to Alex was, “Okay, I get why you hate his guts, but tell me more.”

Alex rubbed his temples. “God, where do I begin? Well, I guess it all started in the seventh grade when we first met. From the moment I first laid eyes on him, I knew I wasn’t going to like him. He just has an insufferable face, y’know? You look at it too long, and you get tempted to smack away that stupid grin. Anyways, I looked at him, and I instantly hated him.

“He thought I was worth his time, I guess, so he started trying to talk to me. I wasn’t feeling it, so I didn’t let us become anything more than acquaintances. Which was hard to do, because I had every single class with him. For, like, half of the first semester of seventh grade, we were pretty okay with each other, though.

“I then discovered he was a conservative, and I wanted nothing to do with him even more than I already did. I mean, he seemed like an okay person, but I didn’t want to be around someone who I was constantly arguing with. So I kinda stopped making small talk with him, and he stopped making small talk with me.

“Then, _hoo_ boy. Whew.” Alex placed both hands on his desk to steady himself. “He turned into a fuckboy _real_ quick. He started trying to hit on Angelica and he kept doing it even when she turned him down, and _hoo_ boy, I knew I was gonna hate him with every fiber of my being from then on.

“And that’s pretty much how it started. Other things happened, of course, like him making fun of me for my sexuality and him continuing to hang out with us even after we told him to get the fuck out and him joining the debate team and the swim team just to piss me off, but that’s the basic origin story. I don’t know, I just hate his guts. He’s awful. I hate him,” Alex repeated. “And I’m still mad at him for breaking my record in the 50 Freestyle.” He sighed. “Poor Madison is hopelessly in love with him. Whatever, at least he’s not straight anymore, for Madison’s sake.”

“He’s an asshole, but as long as he doesn’t invade my personal space again, I don’t think he’ll bother me too much,” John shrugged. “I mean, I have more important things to worry about. But I kinda wanna ask you something about him, Alex.”

“Alright, shoot.”

John bit his lip, then glanced around as if to make sure nobody was listening in. “Did you— have you really slept around that much?”

Alex winced at the question. He’d been afraid John would ask him about that. “I mean, I’ve dated a lot of people. And I’ve slept with a lot of those people I’ve dated. So yeah, I guess. People like to use it against me because it’s a common stereotype that bi people are whores, or whatever. But it’s okay, because I have the highest GPA out of everyone in my graduating class and probably the entire school.”

John cracked a smile. “I don’t doubt it. Either way, though, it’s your choice. As long as you’re being safe, no one should talk down to you for it.”

 _Oh, thank god,_ he thought, relief flooding over him. Now that he was sure John wasn’t going to judge him, he felt a lot more comfortable about having divulged the information to him. “Thanks for understanding, Laurens. It really means a lot to me.” He felt gross being so sincere with his emotions, but hey, if he was in love with this boy, he figured it was the best and only thing for him to do.

 _Right, and_ that’s _why I lied to him about having a crush on him,_ he reminded himself.

Throughout the rest of the day, he tried to get himself excited again by thinking about Maria and the Liberator, and by the time the last bell rang, he was in a considerably better mood than the one he’d been put in when he’d first gotten to school. His main job was to worry about the Crowned, not Jefferson.

When he got home, Washington called him, as expected. “I’ve contacted the Liberator,” he told Alex. “I’ve told him where I want him to meet us.”

“Where is that?” Alex asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Much like how the Crowned likely has a secret base, the White House has an underground compartment which I’ve designated to superhero related operations,” Washington explained. “I’ve made it easily accessible to you, as well as the Liberator; each of you has your own entrance located somewhere in your respective houses. Your is under a panel in the floor of your closet.”

Alex would’ve done a spit take if he’d had any water in his mouth. “What? How did you get it inside my house?”

“Alex, I’m the General,” Washington said. “Don’t ask questions.”

“Fair enough,” Alex admitted. “Can I bring my friend?”

“Of course,” Washington said with a nod. “Our security is sufficient enough to protect you and the Liberator if anything goes wrong.”

“Great. I’ll ask Zero if he wants to come, too,” Alex said, then hung up, changed, and sent a text to Maria.

 **me:** get over here in your supersuit  
**me:** dont ask about it until you get here i promise it’s not bad  
**maria:** lit

And a second later, Maria was standing next to him, clothed in her supersuit and a mask he’d never seen her wear before. “What’s up?” she asked.

“Washington called over a superhero from France, the Liberator, to help us out, and now we’re all having a meeting in his secret base underneath the White House,” Alex told her.

“Cool. But why did you tell me to warp to your room?”

“Oh, the entrance is here,” Alex said, making his way into his closet and feeling around for the secret panel Washington had described. When he finally found it, he lifted it up to see a clear tube leading downwards.

Maria followed him inside. “Alright, you go first,” she said.

“You’ll probably want to wait a while before you go,” Alex said. “You know, so we don’t run into each other.”

Unfortunately, Maria underestimated the time she needed to wait to allow a smooth landing for the both of them. After five seconds of sliding down the tube, Alex felt Maria’s feet on the back of his head, and when their ride was over, they fell to the floor with Maria landing on top of Alex.

“Sorry,” she groaned.

When the two of them got up, Alex saw that the room was made completely out of metal, with several large computer screens and a long keyboard built up against the back wall. Washington was already there, along with a person he assumed was the Liberator. The Liberator was dressed in a mask and a light blue and silver suit, and his hair was pulled back into a bun.

“We should wait to start talking until Zero gets here,” Alex suggested, and Washington nodded.

 _Zero,_ Alex called out.

 _What?_ came the reply.

_I need you to come over to where I am._

_Why? Is something wrong?_

_No. We’re having kind of a team meeting._

_What do you mean?_

_This superhero from France is there, and so is the girl who got threatened into kidnapping you—_

_Is Washington there?_

_Well, yeah—_

_Sorry, I’m not coming. I told you I wouldn’t work with you until I was sure I could trust you. Besides, there are people there that I don’t know. How can I trust them?_

_Sorry, I didn’t mean to push your boundaries._

_It’s okay. I’ll see you around, though._

_Soon?_

_Soon._

_Shit, I love hearing him talk,_ Alex thought to himself. _I just… I wanna touch him so_ badly _. I wish he was here. Well, maybe not at this exact time, when I’m in the presence of the President, my best friend’s girlfriend, and some random French guy. Maybe the next time we save the city from the Crowned’s followers, though, we can make out somewhere no one will find us. If he’ll let me._

“He said he can’t come,” Alex notified Washington.

“How do you know?” the Liberator asked in a thick French accent.

“Telepathy,” Alex explained. “Neat stuff. Anyway, we should probably start the meeting.”

“What is it we should talk about?” Maria asked.

“Well, first off, I don’t think I’ve met you,” Washington said, nodding towards Maria.

“Apollo,” Maria answered. “Simple and mythological: two of my favorite aesthetics.”

“Oh, because you can shoot arrows,” Alex realized out loud. “And Apollo was the god of archery, amongst other things. Nice.”

“Excellent,” Washington remarked. “Now that that’s out of the way, we can talk. I’m sure the both of you know that this is the Liberator, and that I called him over from France to help us defeat the Crowned.”

Alex and Maria both offered their confirmation.

“Washington contacted me,” the Liberator said. “As soon as I heard that America was in danger, I came to help with the crisis.”

The more Alex listened to his voice, the stranger it sounded to him. There was something off about it; yes, the Liberator had a French accent, but there was also a certain… _twang_ to his words? Alex couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“Now, as you all know, the Crowned has broken three out of his four primary followers out of prison,” Washington continued. “He is essentially forming a team to wreak havoc on the city. To combat this, we are doing the same. So far, we have three to go up against his team of four, but we’re going to need all the help we can get for when his team of four turns into his team of five. The Hurricane is already actively trying to recruit Zero Frequency to our cause. The first thing I want the other two of you to take from this meeting is that you have to be on the lookout for anyone who might be of help to us.”

“Definitely,” Maria agreed with a nod.

 _Fuck, I really hope Zero puts his trust in me soon so we get the help we need to kick the Crowned’s ass,_ Alex thought. _And so we can make out with both parties free of discomfort._

“Next item of interest: the Crowned likely has a secret base,” Washington continued. “Our authorities are speculating as to where it might be and attempting to find it. I’ve already warned the Hurricane, but I want to make sure the two of you know that you’ll probably be entering the secret base at some point to shut down the Crowned’s operation at the roots.”

“Absolutely, Mr. President,” the Liberator said. “I’m ready for anything you might throw my way.”

“Perfect. Now, I already know the Hurricane and the Liberator’s identities, but I need to know yours,” Washington said, turning to look at Maria. “I need it so I can get you on independent study. This is so you can guard the White House when the Crowned moves in with his completed team.”

“I’ll tell you everything you need to know, preferably once the others are gone,” Maria assured him.

Washington nodded. “Good.”

Alex’s hand shot up. “Sir, may I speak?” he asked.

“Of course.”

“It’s in my belief that the Crowned will gather his team before the current election concludes, attack the city relentlessly, then finally strike the White House with all of his manpower during a time when the United States is politically vulnerable,” Alex began. “I’ve predicted that this attack will most likely happen while the new President is being sworn in.”

“We’ve also predicted something similar,” Washington told him. “We hope to launch an attack on the Crowned’s base by then, or at the very least, have assembled our team.”

 _Once I get Zero to trust me, we’ll at least need one more person to even out our teams,_ Alex mused. _Washington could call for help from another country again, or the three of us could find someone here in the city. Whatever we choose to do, we need to do it before the election resolves._

“Alright, I do believe we’re done here,” Washington concluded. “If the Liberator and the Hurricane could leave so I can obtain the necessary information from—”

Washington was cut off by the piercing sound of an alarm going off and the flashing red lights that accompanied it. _That can’t be good,_ Alex thought, preparing himself to spring into action.

Washington pulled an old school walkie talkie out from where it was clipped to his pants and put it to his ear. Alex could hear someone speaking out of it, but he couldn’t make out their words because the alarm was so blaring. However, he was able to guess that whatever was being said was, in general, bad.

After a few seconds of hurried conversation, Washington put the walkie talkie away and shouted above the alarm, “The Crowned has broken the Trooper out of prison. There’s an attack on Market and Long going on right now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tjeffs' french-country accent is literally my favorite thing i've ever written tbh


	16. I'll Take Your Heart Served Up Two Ways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> rat a tat tat rat a tat tat tat GAY  
> \+ whoops lotsa drama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> abuse tw for this chapter!!!!!  
> \+ @you people who comment on every chapter: i see you and i appreciate you very much, thank you!  
> ++ thank you for all the comments and recognition in general!

That afternoon, John’s father surprised him by coming home early.

As soon as he heard him unlock the door and saw him walk inside, he wanted to die. A feeling of panicky helplessness overtook him, causing all the color to drain from his face and his hands to tremble. “Dad,” he managed, trying not to let his voice break. _I can’t show weakness. Not in front of him._ “Why are you home so early?”

“I said I might be gone a few weeks. This trip was shorter than expected. I have work to do back here, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

 _Liar._ The accusation echoed through John’s mind, forming a background of white noise against his consciousness. _All you want to do is control me. You don’t care about my wellbeing. I’m nothing but a disappointment to the family, in your eyes._

“Oh,” John replied, taking shaky breaths to steady himself. _Breathe in. One, two, three, four, five. Hold it. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Breathe out. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten._

“How were you while I was away?” his father asked, setting his suitcase down by the coffee table in the living room.

 _Better_. “I was fine.”

“Did you miss me?”

 _Hardly_. “I had a lot of schoolwork. I didn’t really have time to think about you being gone.”

“How’s Alex doing?”

He struggled to keep his breathing even, and he fell into a mess of _One two three four five six seven eight nine_ breathe _, breathe, breathe._ “He’s… he’s fine.”

“You two do anything while I was gone?”

 _I wish._ “No.” Images of Alex with his head between John’s thighs, phantom sensations of Alex scraping his teeth across his skin, and echoes of John whining and begging for more flashed through his mind. He shook his head. “No, we just talked. We went out with Eliza, Lafayette, Hercules, and Maria for lunch on the weekend, but that’s it.”

“Well, at least you have the sense in you to control your urges so you don’t do anything _too_  embarrassing,” his father remarked, and John felt himself go lightheaded, with the surface of his skin prickling uncomfortably.

 _That’s all I am. An embarrassment. I’m just the disgusting_ queer _. A sinner. A disgrace to the Laurens family name. That’s all I’ll ever be to him._ “Sure.”

“And if you’re lying to me, I have ways of finding out.”

And it was like someone had stripped all his clothes off, leaving him completely exposed; naked, with nowhere and no way to hide. His body temperature felt like it had dropped twenty degrees, and goosebumps covered his skin. His trust issues were starting to feel a lot more validated. “Okay. I’m not lying. I won’t lie. I promise.”

“Good.”

John stared aimlessly off into the distance as time began to slow. He was stuck, now. Stuck with his father. And he was stuck with him until he turned 18, maybe even longer, because his father was the only one who could pay for his college tuition. Stuck.

Whenever John thought about Alex, his blood ran hot, and he couldn’t stop himself from pretending his hands belonged to the dark-eyed boy he found himself craving attention from more and more badly— well, boys. Either one of them worked. He wished he could open up to them without feeling like he was cutting himself open and spilling his guts, especially since it would benefit his partnership with the Hurricane in the long run. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

Well, at least he would have the chance to, because his signal went off in his head. “Dad, I’m gonna go back to school and check into study hall so I can get some of my work done,” John told him. “I’ll be back soon.”

His father stopped him as he was running up the stairs to his bedroom. “Which teacher supervises it?”

“Um, Ross, I think. She teaches US History and APUSH?”

“First name?”

“Elizabeth,” John provided, not giving a second thought as to why his father was requesting the information.

“Alright. Go ahead.”

John nodded, rushing into his bedroom and locking the door behind him so his father couldn’t come in to see that he’d left his backpack on his bed. He changed into his suit, then teleported away.

The Hurricane was standing in the middle of the street, wind swirling underneath his palms. “New guy’s attacking. The Trooper. The Crowned just broke him out of prison,” the Hurricane explained, shooting a blast of air at the new villain in question. “Washington got two new superheroes while you were gone. The Liberator, from France, and Apollo, the girl who kidnapped you with surprisingly good intentions. They’re taking on the Gemini Unit across town.”

John was glad that the nation was getting some help, but at the same time, he felt a pang of resentment surge through him because of the new information presented to him. These superheroes, they were working closer with the Hurricane than he was; what if they became more important to the Hurricane than him because of it? What if the Hurricane stopped caring about him because he was too scared to open up?

That was a problem for another time. Right now, John had to focus on keeping the city safe.

The Trooper lifted his arm, and a chunk of the road flew up from the ground into the Hurricane from behind, knocking him down.

 _He can get up on his own,_ John thought. _Right now, I need to focus._ He teleported in front of the Trooper, ready to launch a surprise attack, but before he could do so, he was hit in the head with a rock. He didn’t have time to react as the ground underneath him shot up, flinging him into the air and roughly depositing him twenty feet away.

He coughed, trying to find the strength to sit up. Once he did, he teleported back over to the Hurricane, helping him back on his feet. “Are you okay?” he asked, trying to ignore the pain piercing through his back.

“Yeah,” the Hurricane responded with a nod. “I’ll be—” As the Hurricane was attempting to clarify the status of his health, another section from the road separated and slammed into him, throwing him straight into John.

Before the Trooper could attack again, John teleported the two of them away and carried the Hurricane into the air until he could support himself. “I could try making a shield around the both of us to deflect his attacks,” the Hurricane offered. “It would take all my energy, but that’s fine, because you can just attack instead of me.”

“That would work,” John agreed. “Let’s—” He cut himself off when he looked behind them to spot a car hurtling straight towards them. He grabbed the Hurricane’s hand and pulled him out of the way, panting heavily after the car sailed past them and crashed to the ground. “God,” he muttered under his breath. “I’m starting to think he has a personal vendetta against us.”

“You know what? Let’s just wing it. I don’t think I’m strong enough to do my wind forcefield thing right now,” the Hurricane said. “How about we just do the thing we did last time with you watching my back while I move forward?”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” John circled around until he was pressed against the Hurricane’s back, and the two of them started to advance.

Rocks and debris flew at them from every angle, and John and the Hurricane deflected them the best they could while on the move. A few attacks hit John—one in the knee, one in the shoulder, and one in the hip—but nothing made it through that would send him out of commission. The Hurricane seemed to be doing fine, too. When they finally reached the Trooper where he was standing on the roof of a 7-11, John stayed put behind the Hurricane instead of turning around like he’d done last time; that’d gotten him nothing but an electricity-induced nosebleed.

He couldn’t see what the Hurricane was doing, only what was happening behind him; he trusted that the Hurricane would be able to defend himself from anything that came at him from the front. John guided the Hurricane out of the way of a soda machine that was coming towards him and deflected a small cypress tree flying in from the other side with a sonic wave.

Just as it was starting to look like things were going well for them, John turned to see the Trooper zooming past them on a floating piece of road.

“Shit, I had him!” the Hurricane complained. “We can’t let him get away. Come on, Zero, about face. We have to worry about just what’s going on in front of us, now.”

John nodded, shifting position until he was at the Hurricane’s side. They gave chase with John hoping they would finally be able to get a break and capture at least one of the Crowned’s followers.

 _Alright, we’ve gotta coordinate our attacks to do the most damage and get him to the ground as quickly as possible,_ the Hurricane told him. _You hit him whenever I hit him. Or one of us will attack after the other does something to distract him. Just do whatever you think works best, yeah?_

 _Yeah_.

 _He can’t fly, either. He was dodging all of my attacks by running away,_ the Hurricane provided. _So as long as we knock him off his island and trap him before he can make a move, it’ll be fine._

It sounded complicated to John, but he knew the basics of what he had to do. _Just be aware of your surroundings,_ he told him. _I don’t want you getting hurt._

_Relax. I’ll be fine._

_I_ _hope so._

The Trooper made the first move by breaking off a piece from him island and shooting it towards John.

 _Swing,_ he thought, knocking back the piece of earth with a sonic boom.

The Trooper easily knocked it away, but the Hurricane took the opportunity to send an air current towards his feet in an attempt to knock him off. The Trooper fell back, but caught himself by manipulating the island underneath him to catch him from behind.

 _Which would be faster: knocking him off or getting rid of his island so he doesn’t have anything in a close vicinity to use against us?_ John asked himself. _Okay, but how would we do the second one? First impression is that it sounds harder._

John could see that the Trooper was about to attack again; in the split second before he did, he realized, _Wait, I can teleport._ So he did just that, hoping the Hurricane caught on to what he was doing.

John landed behind the Trooper. He grabbed his wrist, then teleported him over to the Hurricane. Since the Trooper couldn’t do anything to keep himself in the air without manipulating the earth, John was immediately bogged down by his wait. _Hey, catch him for me,_ the told the Hurricane anxiously.

The Hurricane kept the Trooper up by running a current of air underneath his feet. _Let’s go down to the ground,_ he said.

John gripped both of their hands and transported them to ground level. The Hurricane trapped the Trooper in a ball of wind and pulled out his phone, presumably to contact Washington. Once he got on the line, he began with, “Hey, dad, we’ve got—”

He was cut off as a small boulder hit him from the side, causing him to fall to the ground. The ball of air around the Trooper disappeared, and a hole in the ground opened up underneath him which he promptly used to make his escape. Before John could do anything to stop him, the hole closed up.

 _Dammit,_ John thought. _I really believed we would be able to get at least_ one _victory in for the United States._

Despite his newly acquired bitterness, John moved to help the Hurricane up. “Are you hurt?” he asked, doing a quick glance-over to check for any signs of serious injury.

“No, no, I’m fine,” he assured John, managing to get back on his feet.

“Good,” Washington said, resuming the conversation between him and the Hurricane. “Now, what was it you wanted to tell me, son?”

“Nevermind,” the Hurricane sighed. “I was going to say we’d captured the Trooper, but then I ate shit and he got away. So yeah, yet another hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages and nothing to show for it.”

“It’s alright,” Washington assured him. “Apollo and the Liberator captured one half of the Gemini Unit. We’re going to interrogate him for any information he might have regarding the Crowned. Most importantly, the location of his base of operation.”

“I fucking hope it’s the one who gave me a nosebleed,” John muttered under his breath, but the Hurricane heard him and started laughing.

When his laughter died down, Washington continued with, “You don’t have to report back to me. The only one I need to talk to is Apollo, to get her information. Just relax, for now. Unless another attack comes up, you won’t need to spring into action again.”

“Will do,” the Hurricane said, then hung up.

When the Hurricane put his phone away, John looked up to realize that the were in the middle of a busy street, and also that they were surrounded by at least four news vans, just as many reporters, and eight journalists.

“Excuse me,” a mousy-looking journalist cut in, “but may I get a statement from one of you concerning the status of your relationship?”

John looked at the Hurricane with desperation. _What do we do?_ he asked.

 _Run away from our problems,_ the Hurricane told him.

“Um, um…” John sputtered. Quickly, he grabbed the Hurricane’s hand and said, “Gotta blast!” before making a peace sign and teleporting away.

The fucking goddamn _garden_. Christ on a cross, John would be pissed that they ended up there every single time if it wasn’t one: extremely beautiful and two: the spot they regularly made out.

“You know, during the nighttime, it’s prettier because of the stars and the lanterns and actually a decent temperature,” John pointed out. “Right now, I feel like the hot dog some sixth grader wrapped in foil and set out in the sun for their science experiment.”

“Accurate,” the Hurricane commented. “Uh, let’s go behind the fountain so what happened last time doesn’t happen again.”

“Oh, yeah,” John agreed, feeling his face flush. “We should do that.”

The two of them sat against the fountain in the grass. At least the shadow the fountain cast offered them _some_ form of relief from the heat.

A minute or two into the comfortable silence that surrounded them and John caught the Hurricane staring at him, unblinking. “What?” he asked, pulling his knees close to his chest.

“Your ears.”

“Oh, um, sorry, I guess?” he said, suddenly self-conscious. He moved to hide them as subtly as possible.

“No, no, they’re cute,” the Hurricane corrected himself quickly, playing with a strand of John’s hair. “Like you.”

“Oh, um, I—” John stuttered articulately.

“They’re just like his,” the Hurricane mused.

By all means, the statement should’ve killed the moment. It should’ve thrown John into a pit of bitter jealousy, of resentment towards this boy the Hurricane was using him to get over. But John was getting attention, and attention was attention no matter what the connotations. The physical contact didn’t hurt, either. To hell with it being unhealthy for the Hurricane to project his feelings for someone else onto him; John was doing the same thing, so why did it matter?

“You’re the prettiest flower in this garden,” the Hurricane murmured, then pressed a gentle kiss to the spot where John’s earlobe connected with his jaw.

John had a stupid smile on his face as he blushed wildly. “You’re sweet,” he said with a giggle. The Hurricane’s words made him feel like he was up in the atmosphere, walking on clouds. _Take me higher,_ he thought.

The Hurricane moved to press a chaste kiss to John’s lips which John returned, laughing through it. “If only the press could see us,” the Hurricane said when he pulled away.

“If only,” John agreed. “I wonder how the heterosexuals would try to explain this to justify it being platonic.”

“Our kisses are how we express our brotherly platonic love, _especially_ the ones where I stick my tongue in your mouth,” the Hurricane said.

“Logic.”

“No display of anything that isn’t heterosexual can’t be explained away by the Straights.”

“Nothing gets past the Straights. Do you know what time it is?” he asked after pausing to offer a smile, changing the subject.

“It was 3:30 when Washington called me,” the Hurricane told him.

“Then I should get going,” John said.

“Okay. Until next time?”

“Until next time,” John said with a smile as the Hurricane gave him a parting kiss on the cheek.

Once John was sure they weren’t touching anymore, he teleported back to his room. He changed into his street clothes before shoving his suit into his backpack. He made sure his phone was still in the front pocket of his jeans, then slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked out the door.

When he came downstairs, his father was waiting for him, arms crossed. “I didn’t hear you come in,” he stated, eyes harshly trained on John.

John’s stomach dropped, while his heart leapt up into his throat. “I used the back door.”

“Fair enough,” his father conceded. He paced around the living for a moment, then turned back to face John. “You know, I called your teacher, Mrs. Ross. She’s a really nice lady.”

“Y-yeah?” John had to grip the straps of his backpack to keep his hands from shaking.

“What’s strange to me is that when I asked her if you were there, she told me you hadn’t been in her classroom since first period.”

 _Shit._ “First period?” John strained, forcing a nervous smile that came out looking more like a grimace.

“Exactly.” His father cleared his throat. “Now, let’s not make this harder than it needs to be. Tell me where you were.”

He didn’t say anything. He couldn’t tell the truth, and if he lied, he would probably get the shit beat out of him.

“Jack—”

“Don’t call me that,” he spat. “You don’t _deserve_ to call me that. Only _she_ did, before—”

The slap hit his face hard. Suddenly.

_Self-destruct._

He stared blankly at his father. “I wonder what she ever saw in you—”

Another slap, this one to his opposite cheek.

_It’ll feel so much better after you do._

“I wish it had been you instead of her—”

A third, to the same place the first one had hit.

_Do it._

His father grabbed him by his chin and pulled him uncomfortably close. “Don’t _ever_ say that again,” he whispered.

“It’s true—”

His father threw him back, and a sob racked his body as his head hit the kitchen counter. He lifted his head when the pain faded, staring at his father with a look of disgust.

“Are you going to tell me where you were, now?” his father asked coolly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Silence. _Don’t touch me._

“You were with Alex, weren’t you?”

_Self-destruct._

“Weren’t you, Jack?” he repeated.

_Dirty yourself. Anything it takes to get away from him._

“You let him fuck you, didn’t you?” When John didn’t answer him, he repeated, “ _Didn’t_ you?” in a more forceful tone and pulled John up by his hair to get him to look at him.

_Self-destruct._

“I did,” John blurted.

His father let him go, and John braced himself against the kitchen counter so he could stand up straight without his back aching. “I let him touch me,” he lied. “I let him dirty me.” He rested a hand on his temple and started laughing. “It’s the best I’ve ever felt in my life. And the fact that he loves me more than you ever will makes it _so_ much better.”

For a short time after, the space between them was filled only by John’s laughter, then by John’s sobs of anguish. Eventually, everything died down, and the two of them were left with silence.

“Get out of my house.”

John’s face was wet, his eyes were red, and his whole body ached, but on the inside, he felt hollow. He couldn’t bring himself to move, even though he wanted to get away from his father as quickly as possible.

“ _Get out of my house_.”

John didn’t need to be told a third time. He walked out the front door one step at a time, a process which seemed to take hours, then closed it behind him and teleported away.

He wasn’t surprised when he wound up on Alex’s porch again; in fact, that might’ve been where he was intending to go all along.

He rang the doorbell, but nobody answered. He waited, then rang it again, only to get the same response. He pulled out his phone and sent Alex a text.

 **me:** im on your front porch can you come home  
**hamilton:** are you okay?  
**me:** my dad kicked me out  
**hamilton:** i’ll be there to let you in as soon as i can

John waited. When Alex came home, he pulled John into a tight hug and led him inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anthony ramos's ears are my reason for living  
> also WHOOPS @ all that drama


	17. Keep Quiet, Nothing Comes As Easy As You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> plotless fluff, also john kinda opens up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW IT'S BEEN LONGER THAN I USUALLY WAIT TO UPDATE BUT I'M SO SORRY I'VE BEEN REALLY STRESSED (because of AP) AND WORRIED THESE PAST FEW DAYS  
> also, the DramaAlert™ (not really lmao nothing bad happened): basically i've been in love with my best friend for like four years now and yesterday i was like!!!! "time to confess my love for her!!!" so i just ripped off the bandaid BUT I PROBABLY SHOULD'VE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT THE FACT THAT SHE LIVES IN MICHIGAN AND I LIVE IN CALIFORNIA AND WE'RE VERY NEEDY WHEN IT COMES TO HUMAN CONTACT SO A RELATIONSHIP IS IMPOSSIBLE BASICALLY  
> but she said she loves me so???? i mean win basically kinda

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Alex asked after holding John for an amount of time he couldn’t identify.

He shook his head. “No. Not really.” _Maybe later,_ he thought. _I should at least talk to him about what I said._

“That’s okay,” Alex told him. “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”

John pressed his head into Alex’s chest and focused on his heartbeat to anchor himself to reality. Instead of drawing him out of his dissociation, though, the rhythmic beating sent him into a hazy, dreamlike state. His body felt lighter than normal, like his bones were filled with helium and fighting to float away, and even though his eyes were open, he felt as if they weren’t looking at anything in particular, weren’t _seeing_. “Can I… can I stay here?” he asked. “For now?”

“Of course you can.” Alex planted a kiss on John’s forehead, and John knew he should’ve felt something, but he didn’t. He was somewhere else. “You can stay as long as you need to. Have you had anything to eat?”

“No, but I’m not hungry.”

“John, you have to eat something,” Alex insisted.

“I told you, I’m not hungry,” he repeated. “I’ll be fine. I just want to go to sleep.” He gave a somewhat stifled yawn.

“This early?”

_Okay, what time is it?_ he wondered. _What_ is _the truth? I mean, it’s dark outside now, so we must’ve been sitting here for a long time. A really long time. But he just said it was too early for me to go to sleep?_

“What time is it?” John asked, and he decided that it wasn’t a good thing that he needed to be constantly reminded of the basic state of the real world.

“Like, 6:00,” Alex told him.

“We’ve been in the same position for two hours?” John asked. _I wonder if I fell asleep at some point. Shit, I don’t even remember. I just wanna go to bed._

“I mean, yeah.” He paused, then stood up, leaving John cold. “Come on, you can stay in my room.”

“With you?” John couldn’t stop himself from asking.

“I mean, if you want—”

“Please?” John cursed himself for how pathetic he sounded.

“Yeah, I will.”

The two of them climbed into Alex’s bed. When Alex wrapped an arm around John’s stomach, John took it as an invitation to move closer. He closed his eyes, counting on Alex’s body warmth to lull him to sleep.

Something was biting at the back of his mind that was preventing him from drifting off. _Just talk to him,_ he thought, for some reason wanting to restrain the urge. _He deserves to know._

John decided that there wasn’t any reason not to confide in Alex. “I wanna talk about it now,” he whispered.

“Okay,” Alex agreed with a nod. “But only the things you feel comfortable telling me.”

_I’ll leave the superhero things out,_ John decided. _And my dad hitting me. He_   _really doesn’t need to know about that._ “Um, earlier today, I wanted to go somewhere with you, so I told my dad that I would be at study hall so he wouldn’t get suspicious, which was obviously a blatant lie,” he began. “But then the attack happened, and I was stuck in a shelter for, like, an hour.” _What the fuck, why am I so okay with lying?_ “I went back home when we got out, and my dad told me that he called the study hall teacher and she said that I never came. He started asking me where I was, and I got really scared, so I just didn’t say anything, and he started yelling at me, saying that I was with you—” He cut himself off when he heard his voice break.

“You don’t have to keep going,” Alex told him quietly.

“No, no, I’m okay,” John assured him in a shaky voice, picking up where he left off. “So he starts saying that I was with you, and that we were _fucking_ , and— Alex, please understand me, I just wanted to get away from him. So I told him that we _did_ fuck because I knew it would make him kick me out, and I’m so sorry, god, I’m so sorry,” he said, starting to sob into his pillow.

_I’m horrible,_ he thought as he turned around and moved closer, pressing his forehead to Alex’s collarbone while he trembled. _What is this doing to him, seeing me like this?_

“Shhh, John, it’s okay, there’s nothing to be sorry for,” Alex whispered, running his fingers through John’s hair. “You’re with me, now. You’re gonna be fine.”

_Am I just using him to get attention because I have a feeling that he likes me?_ John wondered, twining his legs with Alex’s. _God, this is the second time I’ve had an emotional meltdown in front of him. It’s embarrassing. I should really stop._

After he calmed down and stopped crying, John couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Are you mad at me?” with his eyes closed against Alex’s chest.

“Why would I be mad at you?” he heard Alex respond. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Besides, Laurens, I could never be mad at you.”

The butterflies that formed in his stomach at Alex’s words made him feel strangely warm on the inside, and he had to bite back the _I love you, Alex_ threatening to slip out. “You promise?” John asked, and he felt like a child for having to obtain confirmation.

“I promise. Go to sleep. When you wake up, everything will be fine,” Alex told him, cradling his head.

“Okay,” John said with a nod. “Do you promise you’ll be there when I wake up?”

“Promise.”

_I’m so fucking awful._

With that, John drifted off to sleep, telling himself that things would be better in the morning.

When he woke up, it was still dark outside; he fumbled around in bed for a while before pulling his phone out of one of his joggers’ pockets to see that it was 1:00 in the morning. “Alex?” he called in a hushed voice.

“What?” Alex asked, sitting up immediately.

John sat up as well, clutching his stomach when he felt it growl. At first, he wasn’t going to say anything and just go back to sleep, but his sleep-impaired brain thought it would be a good idea to complain about the lack of content in his stomach at as ungodly an hour as this one. “I’m hungry,” he told him.

“Denny’s,” Alex declared. “We’re going to Denny’s.”

Still a bit out of sorts from having just woken up at 1:00 in the morning, John asked, “Wait, who? What the fuck?”

“Um, Denny’s?” Alex repeated with amusement apparent in his tone. “You know, the restaurant—”

“Yeah, yeah, fuck, I know what Denny’s is, _fuck_ ,” John said hurriedly as the fog of sleep hanging around him started to clear.

“Open 24 hours, known for their breakfast food—”

“Alex, please—”

“Skillets, the Grand Slam—”

“I know what Denny’s is,” John repeated, and Alex had to cover his mouth to keep himself from laughing.

“Alright, put your shoes on, we’re taking Mrs. Mulligan’s car.”

“Will you drive like you actually have your license, this time?” John asked, climbing out of bed to slip on his shoes.

“Listen, we were in a hurry last time, I had to do what I had to do,” Alex tried to explain.

“Fine, whatever. All I’m saying is that if the two of us end up at the bottom of a ravine at 2:00 a.m., I’m not talking to you for the rest of my life once we make it out of the hospital.”

“Laurens, please, my driving skills are impeccable when they’re not being impeded upon by thoughts of disgusting transphobes,” Alex remarked, making his way to the front door with John following closely behind.

“We’ll be back before anyone wakes up, right?” John asked. “I don’t want them to lose any sleep because of us.”

Alex gave a little scoff, then climbed into the driver’s seat. Once John was inside the car, he said, “The Mulligans are all heavy sleepers. I’ve been gone until 5:00 without any of them finding out I was gone.”

“Good. I just really don’t want to get in trouble while I’m staying at your house,” John said as he secured his seatbelt.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Alex said. After he was safely backed out of the driveway, he continued with, “John, just… don’t blame yourself for anything that isn’t your fault.”

John tried not to think much about the pleading tone with which Alex had spoken and instead chose to focus on his surroundings. Lights from the car’s dashboard illuminated its interior with soft tones of blue, green, and red while the sound of its tires rolling over the road hummed in the background. It was completely dark outside, and the lights of the city shone harshly against the night sky; those in the distance blurred together on the horizon. Everything was fuzzy to John; he felt like he was in a strange place between reality and the reality of his dreams.

“Can I play something?” Alex asked once they’d been on the road for a while.

John blinked. “I mean, it’s not my car, so yeah.”

“It’s not my car, either,” he pointed out. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t have a headache or anything so it didn’t bother you if I did.”

“Oh, no, you’re fine,” John assured him quickly. “I don’t care, as long as it’s not country.”

Alex laughed. “If you ever hear me say I like country music, assume that the person speaking is a clone and that the real me has been kidnapped.” He turned on the radio, flipping through the stations until he found the one he seemed to be looking for.

John didn’t know the song playing, but he kind of liked it. It had a soft instrumental, and the singer’s voice was airy; it muddled the fragile state of reality he was present in. “What’s this?” he asked.

“Uh, indie?” Alex answered with an uncertain laugh.

“I know it’s indie. I meant the song,” John clarified.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, it’s nice,” John commented. “I like it.”

By the time they got to their destination, the only thing keeping John awake was his hunger. _We could share a milkshake,_ he thought absentmindedly. _That would satisfy my super cliché romantic fantasies._

Once they got inside, the two of them sat down at a booth across from each other. “What are you gonna get?” Alex asked.

John shrugged. “Pancakes? I mean, it’s technically breakfast. What are you gonna get?”

“Probably, like, toast or something, and as much coffee as I can stomach,” Alex replied. “I wanna do something with you after we get home, so I need to stay awake.”

John’s mind was immediately filled with innuendos, the thoughts of which made his face go red. “Um, like what?”

“It’s a surprise,” Alex said with a wink.

_Not helping,_ John thought, squirming uncomfortably in his seat.

After a few more minutes of making idle conversation with each other, their waitress approached them. “Can I get you two anything to drink?” she asked.

John started bouncing his leg to channel the sudden anxiety that overwhelmed him when Alex looked up at him expectantly. “Just a water,” he said, shifting his gaze to the table.

“And I’ll take a coffee,” Alex jumped in.

“Okay. Are you ready to order?” the waitress asked. At Alex’s nod, she collected their menus.

“Can I just get a stack of pancakes?” John asked with a nervous smile.

“Nothing for me,” Alex provided.

“Okay, I’ll have your drinks out for you soon,” the waitress told them, then walked away.

As soon as she was gone, John said, “Alex, you can’t drink coffee on an empty stomach.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “Watch me, John.”

By the time John got and finished his food, Alex had downed six cups of coffee and still managed to maintain his composure. Really, John had to give him props for that, because he would’ve been a jittery mess of nerves and anxiety at that point, not to mention most likely around the corner from a panic attack. John couldn’t remember a time he’d had coffee and hadn’t gotten one; coffee just made his anxiety ten times worse, so he didn’t bother with it. From what John was seeing, it seemed as if Alex had built up quite a tolerance for caffeine. He supposed being as dedicated an AP student as Alex required such.

After they paid for their food, leaving their waitress a generous tip, they walked back out to the car. On their way there, John asked, “So, what did you want to do with me?” The cold was starting to numb his fingers, and John regretted not running upstairs and at _least_  stuffing a jacket in his backpack before he left for Alex’s house.

Alex unlocked the car doors, and John was grateful for the warmth that surrounded him as he slipped inside. “Well, there aren’t any clouds as far as I can see,” he remarked once he situated himself in the driver’s seat, “and it’s a full moon. It’s still dark out, too.”

John felt butterflies fill his stomach once more. “Alexander Hamilton,” he began, unable to help the smile spreading across his face, “are you taking me stargazing?”

“I mean, yeah, if you want to—”

“Alex, please,” John cut him off. “Obviously I want to go. It may be 2:00 in the morning, but right now, there’s no place I’d rather be than with you.” _Damn. Smooth, Laurens,_ he complimented himself.

“Okay, there’s a park I was thinking we could go to—”

“Perfect.”

Alex turned the radio on again, and John let himself fall into thought. _I’m pretty sure this is a date; at least, that he wants it to be a date. A date, huh? I wonder what would happen if I just kissed him out of nowhere. Hmm. Something to think about._

And he did think about it, before the wave of guilt that immediately followed hit him unrelentingly. _The Hurricane,_ he thought. _I mean, we’re not even in a relationship—we just make out sometimes—but it would still feel like…_ cheating. _And the way he talked to me the last time we saw each other, it fucking_ felt _like we were dating. Fucking hell, man. If I could just get my shit together— Well, that probably won’t be happening any time soon—_

“We’re here,” Alex announced, nudging John to get his attention.

John stepped out of the car and joined Alex. “I’m cold,” he whispered when he felt himself shivering, and Alex wrapped an arm around his waist, holding him close as they walked.

It was quiet. There was no wind, no crickets chirping, no birds chirping; it was like the Earth had gone still. The cold air hung heavy around him, making him painfully aware of his surroundings. As they continued on, John couldn’t spot a single soul, and it became apparent to him that they were alone. In that moment, it felt like they were the only two people left in the world.

Alex picked a spot on the grass where their view would be unobstructed, and the two of them lied down next to each other.

The sheer clarity of the night sky made John’s heart race; the amount of visible stars overwhelmed his senses. Oh, god, this was a perfect spot to kiss Alex; at least, it _would_ be perfect if John didn’t feel so guilty at the prospect of doing it.

“You see that red one?” John asked to distract himself, pointing at the sky.

“Yeah?”

“That’s Mars. And that’s Capricorn, over there,” he said, moving to point to their left.

“That’s me,” Alex commented with a laugh.

“Yeah, I figured. You said your birthday was in January, so…”

“When’s yours?” Alex asked, taking his hand.

John’s breath caught in his throat. “October,” he said, unable to focus on anything other than the physical contact between him and Alex.

“Libra?” Alex guessed.

“Scorpio. Three days short of Halloween.” He paused. “You, uh, you can’t really see mine anymore; the constellation, I mean. It’s a summer constellation, and it’s most visible in June. Since there’s nothing in the way right now, you can kinda see Antares, its brightest star, but even that’ll be below the horizon soon—” John cut himself off when he realized he was so nervous that he was rambling. “Sorry, I just—”

“No, it’s okay,” Alex cut him off, giving his hand a squeeze. “How do you know so much about the stars?”

“Summers really sucked down in South Carolina, because I wasn’t good enough friends with anyone for them to want to go anywhere with me,” John started. “I used to do this a lot, with my mom. She pointed everything out to me, taught me how to recognize all the constellations. We do it every summer, but—” _But we’re never gonna get to do it again,_ he finished in his head.

“But your dad moved you two here,” Alex filled in. “She sounds like she gave you an escape from your father. God, I really hope you get to visit her sometime.”

John dug his fingers into the grass with his free hand, fighting back tears. _I never told him what happened,_ he realized. _He doesn’t know that she’s— she’s—_

“Me too,” John agreed.

After a short period of silence, Alex jumped back in with, “Tell me more, John. Tell me more about the stars.”

“Well, that constellation up there is the Big Dipper, and that one right below it is the Little Dipper,” he said, letting the words flow without worry. “The bright star at the end of its tail is Polaris, the North Star. The trail of stars a little to the right of the Little Dipper is Draco. The really bright star below it is Vega.” He pointed to show Alex. “The other bright star down and to the left of Vega is Altair.”

John would’ve gone on, but Alex broke in. “You know, John, I think it’s really fitting that you know so much about the stars; you’ve got so many all over your skin.”

John felt himself blush and prayed that the darkness would hide it. “Um, I— I…” he trailed off.

Alex turned so he was looking at John's face, staring directly into his eyes. “Laurens, I brought you here to look at the stars, but I think I’ve come to realize that the only star worth looking at is you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao kill me


	18. In Which A Thing Happens That Is Not Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the beginning is like fluff and emotions and Horny Alex™ and then stuff happens and then shit hits the fan but not /all/ the way, u feel?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why did i make alex Suddenly Horny™ lmao

Alex had never quite gotten used to the feeling of John curled up in his arms, and he didn’t think he ever really would; every time he held John, Alex got scared that he would break him, and he would be surprised if that was a feeling that ever went away.

Right now, with the two of them sitting under a night sky and living in a seemingly dead world, Alex wanted to hold him so badly despite that feeling he knew he would get, wanted to reach over and wrap his arms around him, but he didn’t want to invade John’s personal space or make him uncomfortable. Alex managed to stop himself from acting on his urge when he noticed the flush on John’s cheeks, probably a reaction to what Alex had last said. Alex found himself wondering how that flush would look on John’s face with his head thrown back against the headboard of Alex’s bed, his eyebrows drawn together and his swollen lips parted to let out a low moan, and his breathing coming in heavy and ragged.

Pretty hot, both Alex and his dick decided simultaneously.

Alex decided to take a break from eyefucking John and just admire him, because after all, in Alex’s mind, John was made to be admired. Alex followed the slope of his nose to the arch of his eyebrows, and followed the arch of his eyebrows to the curve of his cheekbones. John’s cheeks were round but his cheekbones were still high, like he hadn’t quite grown out of his babyface but was still trying adamantly. They were perfect regardless, just like every other part of him, and covered in freckles, just like every other part of him (Alex didn’t know that for sure, but he figured it was safe to assume). Alex’s eyes wandered down to John’s collarbone, and he thought about how it would feel to bite it, create marks all across it that he knew would leave John sore where he’d been touched. Marks that said _Alex was here_ and _John’s taken._

 _Just let me touch you,_ Alex thought desperately, raising his gaze to John’s lips. _Let me kiss you._

John surprised Alex when he spoke, pulled him out of his reverie. “D-do you— Do you really think so?” he asked, looking up at him.

His eyes; they were so wide, so bright, made him look so innocent. Whenever John looked at him, Alex felt a twinge go through his chest.

“Why would I say it if I didn’t believe it?” Alex responded with a smile which John promptly returned. “Besides, you’re too pretty for me to look away. Couldn’t do it if I tried.”

“Oh, um—” John cut himself off and looked at the ground, letting Alex see how his eyelashes brushed against the top of his cheeks as he did so. “I, um— I really— T-thanks.” Seeing John get blushy and flustered like he was now made Alex feel warm inside.

 _I love him so much,_ Alex thought. _He’s an angel. My sun. The most beautiful face I’ve ever seen._

Alex pulled John into his chest, relenting to his suddenly acquired urge to hold him earlier. “I care about you a lot, Laurens,” he whispered. It was the closest thing to _I love you_ he could say without basically confessing in the process.

“I think you’re the first person who’s said that besides my mom that I actually might believe,” John said, his voice muffled into Alex’s shirt.

“John, please talk to me about—” Alex began, but John cut him off with a declaration that made him freeze.

“I love you,” John blurted, and Alex’s heart started racing. He was about to reply with an _I love you too, John; I love you more than all the stars in the sky and all the lights in this city and all the flowers on Earth,_ but stopped himself when John continued by saying, “I think you’re the best friend I’ve ever had and I love you so much for it.”

And Alex wanted to scream, because dammit, he’d been so close to admitting his feelings after thinking John was doing the same. He was starting to regret not just coming out and saying what he wanted to say before John started talking again. Alex painstakingly thought about what to say next and ended up settling on, “You’re my best friend, too, John.”

“I hope it stays that way,” John said, and Alex knew what he meant, but he took it the wrong way anyways and started internally beating himself up over it.

 _Fuck, I’m so hopelessly in love with him and he just wants to be friends. God, he can’t even see that I’m hopelessly in love with him. I’m doing as much as I can to tell him I’m in love with him without saying it, but he’s so oblivious, it hurts, and he won’t let me in._ “I do, too,” Alex said with a sigh. “But I want you to open up to me when you’re ready, John. Like I said, I care about you a lot. I just want to understand you.”

“I know. _God_ , Alex, I know.” John’s voice shook as he spoke, and Alex could feel him gripping his shirt to steady himself. “I wish I could let you understand me, but everytime I open up, the people I open up to end up hurting me. And Alex, I’m so, so scared that you’ll do the same thing, because I let myself care about you too much.” Alex could tell that John had started to cry because his shirt felt wet. “Sorry,” John apologized, taking a deep breath.

 _My angel. My sun,_ Alex repeated to himself. _I hate seeing you like this._

“Don’t be,” Alex told him, playing with his hair. “Truth be told, I’m scared of hurting you, too. I look at you, at you, Laurens, and I see someone who deserves the world. I want to give you the world, John, but I’m selfish and sometimes I don’t think about the things that I say. I’ve said things that have hurt you before, and I’m terrified of doing it again, because I know you’re already so wary about people betraying your trust.” He paused. “I’ll be careful with you. I want to understand you, but I’ll be patient. Take all the time in the world, John. I’ll keep waiting for you.”

By god, they were actually _communicating_. Alex wanted to stay up and talk like this all morning.

“You’ll be the first, then,” John said with a halfhearted laugh, and Alex brought him closer until their foreheads were touching.

Alex marvelled at the blush that spread across John’s cheeks, at the way his mouth opened in surprise at the sudden contact. It would be too easy for Alex to tilt his head to the side and press his lips to John’s.

“Your breath smells like coffee,” John commented in a hushed voice. He looked away, obviously trying to avoid making eye contact.

“I probably taste like it, too,” Alex said, and he could see John’s face getting redder. God, he really needed to learn some self control when it came to flirting.

“Alex,” John said simply, and Alex decided he really liked the way his name sounded coming from John’s mouth. John inhaled like he was about to say something in continuation, but then stopped himself short.

“What is it?” Alex asked, finding John’s hand and lacing their fingers together.

“I don’t know what I was gonna say,” John admitted.

“Do you want to go home now?” Alex offered.

“Maybe in a while,” John said. “I like it here with you. I want to stay here like this as long as I can.”

“Okay. We’ll leave later. We have time.”

 _Time,_ Alex thought. _Yeah_.

They ended up leaving the park at 3:30, because at that point, John had almost fallen asleep three times. He finally passed out in the car, and Alex had to carry him to bed. With six cups of coffee in his system, Alex wasn’t about to join him any time soon, so he just decided to sit next to him and stay awake, eyes carefully trained on his sleeping form.

 _I hope he’s having sweet dreams,_ Alex thought with a sigh. Though, the placid expression on John’s face coupled with the relaxed positioning of his body made it hard to believe that he wasn’t. He looked so peaceful, so at ease; looking at him asleep, Alex would have never guessed he was so unhappy while awake. Alex supposed being unconscious _would_ take a lot of stress off of one’s body.

Well, John was beautiful either way. John, with his dark curls and watery green eyes and freckles all over and sunny smile and _John_. John, his angel. John, his sun. Alex wanted so badly for John to love him back as intensely as he loved him, wanted so _badly_ for the two of them to be able to completely emotionally bare themselves for each other.

 _God, Laurens,_ he thought. _I wish you could see how much I love you. I wish you would just talk to me so I could understand what you’re feeling and what you’ve been feeling. I want the two of us to be on the same wavelength. I said I would be patient, and I will, but I need you to let me in so desperately. Please._

Alex stayed awake into the morning. When he saw John first stir under the sheets to get up, he figured it was time to get ready; a quick look at his phone confirmed that it was, indeed, time to go to school.

“Alex?” John yawned, reaching around aimlessly until his hand found Alex’s thigh. “Oh, you’re already awake?” he asked, sitting up to stretch his arms out.

“Yeah,” Alex said with a nod. “Come on, it’s time to get ready.”

John looked up at him blankly, then groaned and rubbed his eyes. “Fuck, I’m so tired and I don’t have anything to wear—”

“Dude, just look through my stuff,” Alex said, climbing out of bed and pulling out a pair of sweats and a T-shirt for himself.

“Alright, cool,” John said, getting out of bed with obvious reluctance. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”

“Without me?” Alex asked with a wink.

“It’s too early for this shit,” John muttered, walking out the door.

“Bathroom’s upstairs!” Alex called before John shut the door behind him.

Getting dressed, it was hard for Alex not to think about John in the shower, naked and soaking wet; it was even harder for Alex not to think about the two of them in the shower together, with John on his knees and Alex’s fist in John’s hair while he—

 _Woah, woah,_ woah _, Hamilton, you need to chill,_ he told himself, because it was only 7:00 in the morning and he still needed to come out of his room to eat breakfast. He took a few deep breaths to regain his composure, then walked out into the living room to join Hercules for breakfast.

Hercules slid him a bowl of cereal once he sat down at the dining table. He leaned in, then whispered, “Hamilton, you wanna tell me why you invited John over to cuddle without telling me and then drove away with him in my mom’s car at 1:00 in the morning?”

“She didn’t see us, did she?” he asked, allowing his sudden panic to show through his words.

“Relax. I was the only one awake,” Hercules assured him. “Now, spill it. I wanna hear about your date.”

“Well, first of all, I didn’t invite him over to cuddle, his dad kicked him out,” Alex explained. “Second of all, we didn’t go on a date, we just went to Denny’s because he said he was hungry.”

Hercules frowned. “Alex…” he began cautiously, seemingly having abandoned their previous conversation topic, “where is he gonna stay?”

“I told him that he could stay with us, for now,” Alex answered, and he had a sinking feeling he knew what Hercules was going to say next.

“You know my dad can barely support us with the money he makes,” Hercules told him. Yep, Alex’s feeling had been right.

“Look, Herc, it’s only for a little while,” Alex tried to defend himself. “He can stay with us until we find him a more permanent place to live. He can stay with the Schuylers, if their father lets him; _Lord_  knows they have infinitely more money than we do.”

“Well, don’t tell me, tell my mom,” Hercules said, then went back to eating his cereal.

“I’ll tell her later. When we get back from school, today,” Alex decided before starting to shovel cereal into his mouth. “She hasn’t seen him here yet, so there’s no need to explain things now,” he said between bites.

A few seconds after he and Hercules had finished their cereal, John walked out of his room, and Alex did a double take when he saw him dressed in his clothes. _Fuck, they look better on him than they do on me_ , he thought as John grabbed an apple from the bowl of fruit in the middle of the table and retrieved his backpack from where it was resting on the kitchen counter.

“Nice seeing you here, John,” Hercules greeted, and John took a nervous bite of his apple.

Alex caught the glance John cast towards him and said, “It’s fine, he knows. I’ll tell Mr. and Mrs. Mulligan what’s going on when we get home from school.”

John nodded, giving Alex a thumbs up since he couldn’t really talk with a chunk of apple in his mouth. Once he swallowed it, he asked, “Are you sure the two of them will be fine with me staying here?”

Alex nodded and offered him a smile, even though he wasn’t. “Yeah, I’m sure. They’re not the type to let people down.”

“Okay.” John shot a look in Hercules’s direction.

“We should get going, huh?” Alex suggested hurriedly. “Better to get there early so John and I can talk about our, uh, group project in History.”

As soon as they got to school, Alex was pretty sure that everyone in their friend group noticed that John was wearing his clothes. Angelica was the one to take him aside and ask him about it; even though she led him somewhere that no one could possibly see or hear their conversation, Alex could feel everyone else looking in their direction to try to.

“Alexander, can you explain to me why John is wearing your clothes?” Angelica asked, and she sounded incredibly exasperated.

“Um, last night, John and his dad got in an argument, and he said something that pissed him off, so he got kicked out,” Alex began. “Like, from what he told me, it sounded like he basically got disowned. So, uh, he’s kinda staying at Herc and I’s house for now. When he came over, he didn’t bring any clothes, so I just went ahead and let him wear mine.”

Angelica looked at him for a long time, then finally said, “John’s dad is an asshole, and your family has fuck all money. It would just be better if you let him stay with us.”

“You know, I was thinking about that, too. But I’m also madly in love with John and have the need to be in close proximity to him a vast majority of the time he crosses my thoughts,” Alex pointed out.

Angelica let out a long, frustrated sigh. “God, Alex, if you’re in love with him, I would think that you would actually want the best for him instead of acting on your selfishness.”

And yeah, now that Angelica pointed out that that was what he would be doing if he let John stay at his house, he felt the guilt start to weight down on him. “Okay, Angelica, we’ll figure something out about him staying with your family. But he’ll stay with us until then.”

 _God, I promised John that I would try to be careful with him by not being_ _selfish, and I was totally about to break that promise first thing in the morning,_ Alex thought as the two of them rejoined the group.

The first thing he heard was John saying, “Hey, Alex, can you, like, just chill out this time?”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “What?” he asked, and Peggy pointed off to the right.

 _Oh god,_ he thought when he saw Jefferson approaching their group with Madison following close behind. _Oh_ god.

“Okay, I’m gonna try to stay calm,” he said to himself under his breath.

“Pleasure seeing you all, especially Hamilton,” Jefferson greeted.

Alex was itching to say something to get the better of Jefferson even though they weren’t in a debate. “Pleasure seeing you as well, Jefferson,” he replied, trying not to let show the fact that he was incredibly irked by Jefferson’s presence.

“I was just coming to let you know that I wanted to talk to you about something after school, Hamilton,” Jefferson informed him.

“That’s all?” Alex asked, crossing his arms. He didn’t know why, but hearing Jefferson tell him that he wanted to meet after school made him nervous.

“We can meet by the North Gym,” Jefferson said, then waved and walked away.

Nothing else of importance happened until after school, when he got a call from Washington. He was on his way home; he couldn’t bring himself to confront Jefferson and waste his energy on _him_ when he was occupied with John’s wellbeing and the wellbeing of the citizens of D.C..

“What is it?” he asked once Washington got on the line.

“If you could meet with us in our base of operations,” Washington requested. “We have some things to discuss regarding the location of the Crowned’s base.”

“On it,” Alex said, then hung up.

The entire time he’d been walking, he felt _uncomfortable_ , like someone was following him. Despite this feeling, he told himself to focus on the task at hand and ducked into an alleyway to change.

He probably should’ve waited until he got home.

Once he’d shoved his clothes into his backpack and pressed the button on his bracelet, a familiar voice sounded behind him, one that made his skin crawl and caused panic to rise within him upon recognizing its owner.

“Well, Hamilton, I had a feeling it was you.”


	19. "The Take Over, The Breaks Over"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wow plot actually happens in this chapter who would've thought

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you guys can make it through this chapter and the next one, your patience will be rewarded, if you know what i mean ;))))

The first thing Alex tried to do upon seeing that Thomas Jefferson was the one who had just caught him not only getting naked, but dressing in the costume of his secret superhero identity was try to spout some bullshit to discredit him.

“Um, really, I have no idea who you’re talking about,” Alex began. “I don’t quite understand why you would accuse me of being someone I’m not—”

“Alexander, please,” Thomas cut him off with a sigh. “Look, it’s fine, I won’t tell anyone,” he said, then proceeded to pull his hair up into a bun. When he spoke next, he slipped into a French accent. “See? No reason to be so worried.”

 _Jesus fuck,_ Alex thought, because he realized in that moment that he totally should’ve seen this coming. A superhero called over from France mere days before Thomas Jefferson began attending classes again at their high school? Yeah, that was a coincidence he shouldn’t have overlooked; maybe if he hadn’t, it would’ve led him to the conclusion that Thomas Jefferson was, indeed, the Liberator while sparing him the embarrassment of finding out so late.

“God,” was all Alex had to say. For once in his life, he was at a loss for words.

“Well, you were bound to find out at some point,” Jefferson said, reverting back to his natural southern accent which was just as, if not more infuriating. “Just like you’re bound to find out that Zero’s—” He covered his mouth, letting out a gasp of mock surprise. “Whoops! Forgot that Maria doesn’t want me telling. Sorry, _Apollo_.” Thomas made air quotes around Maria’s superhero name.

Alex felt his eye twitch. Jefferson was really, truly going to be the death of him. Alex wanted to know how he knew so much, but he was fairly certain that the answer would fill him with even more anger than was already present in his system. Oh, well; he didn’t particularly care. This was Jefferson, after all; he always found a way to make Alex angry no matter what the circumstances. “How’d you find out it was Maria?” he asked, a certain bitterness that he reserved only for Jefferson lacing his voice.

“Figured it out,” Jefferson shrugged, his trademark insufferable grin resurfacing. “I figured out who Maria was, then I asked her if the feeling I had about Zero was right. She confirmed my suspicions, then proceeded to tell me to keep his identity a secret from you, Alexander, along with the Hurricane. So naturally, using my superior deductive reasoning skills, I assumed that you were the Hurricane. I wanted to talk to you after school to tell you that I was the Liberator so there wouldn’t be any conflict between us while working to save the city from the forces of evil, but you so rudely bailed on me.”

“So you… followed me home? And watched me _undress_?” Alex was growing more and more irritated the further he comprehended the situation.

“Hamilton, please. I had a good reason.”

This was what threw him off the precipice of self-control to a point which his arrival to caused his blood to boil and his skin to itch like mad. It was safe to say that, as he resided at this point so distanced from the now unreachable precipice, Alex was royally pissed off, so much so that he let his words flow out of him without any restraint whatsoever. Jefferson opened his mouth to explain himself, but Alex talked over him before he could get a word of explanation in. “A good reason? No, _fuck_ you! You invade my privacy, you invade my friend’s privacy, then you rub it in my face like it somehow makes you better than me? For what? What reason do you have to explain that that could possibly be categorized as good? You being a selfish prick?”

Jefferson’s grin had faded, but his expression remained calm, as did his voice. “As I blatantly alluded to before, my reason for confronting you is that I don’t want any of this to interfere with the city’s safety.”

“What makes you think my burning hatred for you would interfere with me doing my job?” Alex asked incredulously. He wasn’t just angry, now, but personally offended. Who did Jefferson think he was to criticize the way Alex chose to carry out his mission, to think he could predict the actions that he would take? It was ridiculous. There was no salvaging this situation, he decided. The best thing Jefferson could do, at this point, was just fuck off and give him his space.

“Well, your relationship with Zero when these attacks first started, for one,” Thomas pointed out, and Alex’s face started heating up with embarrassment that was now now serving to (temporarily, at least) replace his anger. Yes, that had definitely been a problem, he recalled vividly.

“Where did you hear about that, Thomas?” Alex asked, spitting his name out in as venomous a tone he could muster. “Or did you just magically figure it out like you have with everything else so far?”

“Washington warned me, if you would like to know,” Thomas drawled. At his words, a pit started to form in Alex’s stomach. _Washington?_ “He told me to be careful with you because of what happened with Zero at the beginning of this mess.” At Alex’s wide-eyed expression, Thomas said, “Oh, don’t tell me you didn’t think he would find out. He has surveillance all over the city.”

 _But I thought— He didn’t even_ talk _to me about it or even treat it like it was a problem._

“Okay, so what?” Alex asked in a rather childish display of defiance to hide the fact that he was in a very mild state of shock.

“So, I knew if you found out that I was the Liberator that the same thing would happen between the two of us, except without all of the making out afterwards,” Thomas went on, and Alex’s face grew hotter.

“At least I have _some_ semblance of a relationship with someone I care for, unlike you,” Alex retorted.

Jefferson ignored his comment, and Alex assumed that it was because he was weak and didn't know how to properly defend himself against the truth. In reality, of course, it was probably because Alex’s raging immaturity was getting in the way of the conversation’s progression. “For the good of everyone, I just wanted to make sure that everything that happened between you and Zero didn’t happen between us. You know it’s counterproductive to fight instead of working together. I propose that we call a truce between each other while we’re suited up so our rivalry doesn’t endager the lives of others.”

For the good of everyone. Yeah, okay. “God, you just think you’re _so_ great, don’t you?” Alex asked. “For the fucking good of the entire fucking city. Stop acting like you’re so noble, and I might start to take you seriously.” That was a lie, and a pretty blatant one, at that; Alex would probably _never_ take Jefferson seriously.

“Please, Hamilton, I’m not the one who calls myself the _winds of justice_ ,” Jefferson shot back with a casual shrug, and Alex felt himself burning with rage all over again.

“You know what, fuck this. Fuck you. Fuck everything. Washington just called us to a meeting, and you’re wasting my time. He’s probably wondering where we are right now, and you’re just fucking wasting my time,” Alex repeated. “You could have waited until the meeting to bring this shit up, you know, but no, you decided to follow me home and watch me get naked to change. Fuck you, Jefferson, I’m not gonna let you keep me here any longer than you already have. I’m leaving.”

With that, he flew the rest of the way to his house and climbed in through the window to his room after making sure no one was inside to check on him.

“Maria probably has her own way to get there, I’m sure,” Alex muttered to himself as he stepped into his closet, stretching his arms and legs out in case he had to spring into action like the last time the three of them had met with Washington. “If not, she can just warp over here, or whatever.” Alex opened the panel in the closet’s floor, then jumped in and let gravity work its magic.

When he landed, Thomas and Maria were already there, and the alarms were going off, flashing red and filling the room with their obnoxious, repetitive blaring.

 _Fuck Thomas,_ Alex thought. _Fuck him for making me late at a time like this. And fuck him for being able to get here so fast._

Washington pushed a button by the computer monitor in the back, and the alarm ceased. “I’m not even going to ask what took you so long, because we don’t have time for that,” he said, and Alex’s stomach twisted with shame. “There’s an attack going on right now, but I wanted to discuss a few things with you lot before I send you out.”

“What’s that, sir?” Alex asked, feeling as if he didn’t deserve to call Washington his dad given the situation.

“We think we’ve pinpointed where his secret base is,” Washington explained. “The half of the Gemini Unit that we captured gave up a location, and we upgraded our surveillance around that location to see whether or not he was being truthful. Yesterday evening, we found the Crowned retreating into a manhole near the area specified. After you three and Zero take care of the attacks, we’ll send you in with backup nearby to take care of the Crowned once and for all.”

“Sir, may I ask who’s attacking?” Alex ventured, not wanting to upset Washington further.

“Demolition Beta, the Duplicate, the Trooper, and the half of the Gemini Unit that we haven’t captured,” Washington told him, and it took everything in Alex’s power for him to stop himself from panicking right then and there.

 _The Crowned’s really starting to fuck us over even more than he already has,_ Alex thought. _He’s sending every single one of his followers out to attack the city in what will most likely be the most destructive way he can think to do it. God, we can only fight him for so long without more help before he ends up somehow getting the better of us._

Then, Zero’s voice sounded in his head, effectively interrupting his train of thought. _Where the fuck are you?_

 _Oh, god, I’m so sorry,_ he apologized quickly when he realized that Zero must’ve been having to deal with the clusterfuck at hand all by himself. _We’re with Washington right now. I’m really sorry, he wanted to talk to us about the Crowned before we went out. I got there late. I’m sorry I’m not there—_

_Relax. It’s fine. I’m fine._

_Are you sure?_ Alex asked, unable to shake his worry. _You’re not hurt, are you?_

_No, no. I told you, I’m fine. But please hurry, I can’t hold them off by myself much longer._

_What exactly is going on over there and how bad is it? Because from what Washington told us, things were pretty bad._

_The Trooper and Gemini Number One—or Two, it’s not like I care enough to remember—are over here a few blocks away from the high school. I felt like something else was happening, too, like another attack, but I ended up over here the first time and stayed because I figured that you guys would have it covered._

_Got it. We’ll be there in a few, hopefully. Please stay safe, though. I don’t want you getting hurt. I would never be able to forgive myself if you did._

_I’ll be okay until you get here._

_Promise?_

_Promise._

“Did you hear me?” Washington asked with a stern glare directed at Alex.

“Um, no?” he answered with painful uncertainty, guilty that he’d been paying attention to Zero instead of Washington. “I’m sorry—”

“The Trooper and half of the Gemini Unit are attacking at the shopping center on Black and Corkwood, while Demolition Beta and the Duplicate are at the hospital on Chestnut and Brown,” Washington explained, paying no attention to Alex’s rushed attempt at an apology.

“Zero is already with the Trooper and the Gemini Unit, I can go with him and the other two can go get Beta and the Duplicate,” Alex offered. Jefferson gave him a suggestive look, and all of a sudden, Alex found it very hard to resist the urge to punch him in the face.

“Sounds like a plan,” Jefferson chimed in his ridiculous French-country accent. Alex didn’t understand why he still had to pretend he was French; everyone in the room knew who he really was, so there was no point.

“Alright. Apollo can warp you all to where you need to go,” Washington said, and Alex’s skin was prickling in anticipation because he wanted to make sure that Zero was okay. “If they run away, follow them, but don’t keep attacking unless you want to defend yourself. I want to see if they return to the Crowned’s alleged base.

Maria nodded. “Cool,” she said, conjuring two side-by-side portals. She and Jefferson disappeared through one, and Alex went through the other.

 _What the fuck?_ Alex asked as he hovered above the shopping center’s parking lot, watching Zero frantically attempting to avoid attacks whilst getting out some of his own. _Why are you in the parking lot? There’s way too much shit just lying around, waiting to incapacitate you out of nowhere._

_Look, I was trying to get away and I panicked without realizing that I would be at a very high risk of being injured by a car slamming into me in midair._

Zero teleported in front of him, and Alex could see that a large wound to the side of his forehead, as well as his nose, were gushing with blood. “You told me you wouldn’t get hurt—” he began, but quickly switched to, “Watch out!” When he saw a bolt of lightning coming straight for Zero.

Zero reacted just quickly enough to throw himself into Alex and teleport the two of them away to the top of one of the store buildings.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked as Zero caught his breath in his arms.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he groaned, but that didn’t change the fact that his face was covered in blood and he still sounded like he was in immense pain.

“Do you need to rest up here for a while?” Alex asked.

“We can rest after we put the two of them away,” Zero insisted, wiping away some of the blood that had trickled into his mouth.

“You might get hurt even worse. I want you to be as safe as possible.”

“With you next to me, I’ll be safe no matter what,” Zero told him, and Alex would be lying if he said his heart, to be cliché, _didn’t_ skip a beat.

“Okay, let’s go,” Alex said, helping Zero keep his balance so he could stand up.

“What’s the plan?”

 _You can avoid the Trooper’s attacks and get close to him more easily than I can, since you can teleport; I say you go after him and I go after Gemini,_ Alex suggested.

 _Will you be fine being in the air by yourself?_ Zero asked, eyebrows drawn together in concern.

 _Don’t worry about me,_ Alex assured him, and he felt his heart start to beat faster when Zero’s expression softened. _Just worry about what you’re doing. We’ll be fine._

_Anything else?_

_Before we left, Washington said to follow them without attacking if they try to get away, unless you need to defend yourself._ He paused to wait for Zero to confirm the statement with a nod, then said, _Alright. Do you have enough strength to get going?_

 _Yeah, I think I’m good now,_ he said, slowly detaching himself from Alex’s body.

_Let’s go, then._

Alex jumped off the edge of the building and flew towards the Gemini Unit, while Zero did the same but in the Trooper’s direction. As Alex rushed towards the Gemini Unit, he moved frantically to dodge the electricity he was immediately bombarded with within no longer than a moment of his descent.

 _I’m just gonna fly through all of it instead of wasting my energy on dodging,_ Alex said to himself, and it really didn’t _sound_ like a good idea, but at the time, it was the most logical thing his brain could come up with. _I can take it. Besides, it’s the only way I can get close to him, since he can shoot me from so far away._

Alex stopped focusing on trying to avoid the Gemini Unit’s attacks and rushed forward into the field of lightning awaiting him. He was hit with every single attack Gemini fired, but he ignored the pain and kept pushing forward. When he got close enough (or what he deemed as close enough) to the Gemini Unit, he began shooting blasts of wind at him, which Gemini countered with his lightning; it seemed that for every current that pushed the Gemini Unit back, a bolt of lightning hit Alex just seconds after.

After a while of this back and forth, Alex was starting to feel a bit more fatigued than he’d planned to. It didn’t help the future of his physical state when Zero told him, _Hey, let’s go, they’re getting away,_ and the Trooper and the Gemini Unit started moving away from the scene.

 _You just have to follow them,_ Alex told himself. _It’ll be fine._

Luckily, after he and Zero gave chase, the two villains didn’t seem interested in attacking them, just in getting away. They continued until they’d led them to a seemingly deserted street.

 _Stay back for a second,_ he told Zero, hanging by an empty building up for rent.

 _The base,_ he thought as the two villains approached a nearby manhole. The Trooper carefully removed it, and the two climbed down into whatever the opening led to.

Not a second later did Alex’s phone start ringing. He took it out to answer it.

“Did you two see that?” Washington asked.

“Yeah. Can we follow them?”

“Backup’s on the way, so you can go scope things out before the other two get back if you want,” Washington told him.

Alex didn’t want to hang up until he gave Washington a proper apology for his tardiness, even though it wasn’t his fault. “Another thing, sir: I’m sorry I was so later after you’d asked us to meet. I—”

“Alex, it’s fine,” said Washington with a reassuring smile.

Alex took a deep breath, feeling relief flood his senses. “Thanks for understanding.”

“Now, go see what’s in there.”

Alex hung up, and his relief was replaced with the feeling of his stomach churning and his heart rate increasing. If they went down there, a few things could happen; they could end up in a sewage system and have to resume fighting the Trooper and the Gemini Unit inside; they could end up in the Crowned’s secret base and have to resume fighting the Trooper and the Gemini Unit inside; or, they could end up in the Crowned’s secret base and wind up face to face with the man himself.

He took a deep breath as he and Zero walked up to the opening. “The Crowned could be down there,” Zero remarked, and Alex forced himself to smile comfortingly through his fear.

“We can take him,” Alex joked, and Zero laughed, but Alex could tell his heart wasn’t in it.

“No use in waiting much longer,” Zero said, and Alex had to admit that he was right.

“Let’s go,” Alex said, and the two of them descended into an uncertain future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter: shit /really/ hits the fan this time  
> 


	20. Perigee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> idk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao

Maybe this was just his intense paranoia talking, but John was 99% sure that he and the Hurricane were walking into a trap; the other 1% was vaguely inclined to the notion that something generally not good would come from this. And really, he was justified in his opinion, because there wasn’t exactly much room for things to go right given the circumstances of the situation; they were following two supervillains who also worked for the most dangerous supervillain in the United States, unarmed, into a sewer. So, yeah, at this point, the outcome wasn’t looking so good.

As John climbed down, he realized he couldn’t see anything except for the ground directly below him; it was the only spot light from the outside managed to reach. He landed carefully, then promptly got out of the way so the Hurricane could do the same. I hope this isn’t a trap. I really hope this isn’t a trap, he thought, internally trying to convince himself that it wasn’t to keep his anxiety under control.

The place didn’t really _smell_ like a sewer, which John didn’t know what to make of; he didn’t know if it was better for them to end up in a regular sewage system and have to work things out from there or to end up in the Crowned’s base and risk having to face the man himself. Which one would put them in the least amount of danger? Probably the sewage system, he decided; the Crowned didn’t seem like a person who liked to get dirty, so it was unlikely he would’ve been in one. Coming to this conclusion only served to further induce worry and panic upon him, since, given his observations, it was painfully obvious that they had probably just entered the latter.

When all light suddenly faded from the room, John looked up to see that the manhole had been covered again; he felt himself shiver at the loss of vision and the subsequent loss of what fragile security he’d had that went with it.

 _I can’t see you,_ he said, because at this point, he was pretty much on the verge of having a full-on panic attack—he could feel himself getting progressively lightheaded as his breathing got shallower and shallower, feel his heart rate increasing to an uncomfortably erratic pace—and he needed someone to anchor him back to reality.

 _I’m right next to you,_ the Hurricane assured him, and John tried to focus on those words as he stared at a fixed point in front of him and attempted to regulate his breathing.

 _To my right?_ he asked, nails of one hand digging into the wrist of the other to shock him back to his senses when he started feeling as if his consciousness was about to fade.

 _Yeah. I’m right here,_ the Hurricane said, then placed a hand on his shoulder. John winced at the contact, but tried to focus on the fact that the Hurricane was next to him, on the same plane of existence as he was.

John was about to say something in reply when the sound of someone clapping cut him off. He looked around wildly, waiting for something to happen; after a few seconds, artificial lights turned on with no warning, bleaching the room white. John had to cover his eyes because the lights were so harsh, so stark, that he was in pain from looking at them after being in the dark for so long.

When his eyes no longer stung when he blinked them open, a sign that they had adjusted to the light, John saw that they were in a plain, white room: it looked like it would serve better as somewhat of a multi-purpose room than as a base of operations. Upon further inspection, he also saw the person he’d been dreading to see the most standing in front of them.

“Hello, boys,” the Crowned greeted, a certain lilt present in his voice that made him sound bored, almost. John had to keep pressing his nails into his wrist to keep his hands from shaking. “How are you two today?”

“Shitty,” John managed, recalling at that moment that his face was covered in blood and he’d just been on the verge of having a panic attack a few moments ago.

“Could be better,” the Hurricane supplied.

“Not because of me, I hope?” the Crowned said with a knowing smile, and it occurred to John at this moment that they were engaging in witty banter with a supervillain instead of kicking his ass.

John teleported behind him and moved to fire an attack, but the Crowned turned around and caught him by the hand before he could, sending an attack of his own straight into John’s abdomen.

John teleported back to where he’d been before the Crowned could do anything else and just barely was able to stop himself from doubling over from the searing pain. “That hurt,” he remarked.

“Wait until we finish our civil conversation before you try and take a stab at me, will you?” the Crowned complained, wrinkling his nose. “It’s just common courtesy.”

 _So is trying to overthrow the U.S. government and injuring hundreds in the process, I guess,_ the Hurricane said, and at least he had enough sense in him not to make the retort out loud this time. John tried to let out a muffled laugh to let the Hurricane know that he appreciated his bitter comment, but it died in his throat because of the pain that formed in his stomach when he attempted to force it out.

“What were you saying, then?” the Hurricane asked, blinking expectantly.

The Crowned rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Well, your friend has gone and ruined the sentiment, now; there’s no point in continuing.”

“So can we fight, now?” John asked, and he wanted to spring into action, but he also kind of wanted to stay where he was and just keep talking because he was currently in an immense amount of pain.

“Did you really need to ask?” The Hurricane looked at him, raising an eyebrow in inquiry.

“You’re right, he’s stupid,” John decided. “Let’s go.”

The Hurricane rushed straight towards the Crowned, wind swirling at his fingertips in preparation for an attack; while the Crowned was focused on the Hurricane, John teleported behind him and grabbed him by the hair, pressing his other hand against the back of his head and firing a sonic boom.

The force was so great that the villain’s signature crown fell to the ground with a seemingly deafening clatter. And for a moment, it felt like time had completely stilled, like the three of them were suspended in its hold.

Then, that moment ended, and the Crowned retaliated by stretching his arms out and sending the both of them flying with the beams of white light that shot out from his hands.

While the two of them were too busy writhing in pain at opposite ends of the room to do anything to counter the Crowned’s attack, the Crowned calmly bent down to pick up his headpiece and placed it back in its original spot. “That’s better,” he remarked, making sure that it was secure.

 _Fuck, I don’t know if I can get up,_ John said. Every time he tried to move anything, no matter what it was, it sent a stab of pain through his entire torso.

 _You have to,_ the Hurricane told him. _I can’t beat him by myself._

While they were talking, John had found the strength in him to sit up, at the very least, but it left him red-faced and out of breath. _I don’t know. I just— I’m sorry. I’m sorry for letting you down._

 _Hey, don't say that. You haven’t let me down once the entire time I’ve known you. I mean, even back when we hated each other, you still got us away from him when we would’ve been done for if you hadn’t,_ the Hurricane pointed out. _Just take your time. I’m sure you can get up and keep going._

It turned out that John could take all the time in the world to get up, because the Crowned waved and said, “Goodbye, boys. Hope you have a nice evening,” before he walked through a doorway formed by the back wall splitting that closed once he’d gone through.

“Fucking coward!” the Hurricane called, but it was a taunt made in vain, because the Crowned was already gone.

John took a deep breath, then managed to teleport over to the Hurricane, collapsing in his arms after doing so. “F-fuck, I—” he began, but the Hurricane cut him off.

“You’ll be fine,” he told him, running his fingers through his hair. “The pain goes away quickly, remember? You just have to wait it out.”

John nodded, focusing on the feeling of comfort blooming inside him that came from the Hurricane playing with his hair. _I’ll be fine,_ he thought. _We’ll be fine._

After a while, the searing pain plaguing him had faded into a dull ache; movement still hurt, but out of fatigue.

“Hey,” the Hurricane began when John sat up, a concerned expression crossing his face, “did you notice the ladder?”

John raised his head. “What?” he asked. “No.” He looked up towards the entrance and found that the ladder they’d climbed down to get inside had disappeared. “Oh, god. I fucking knew it.”

“Knew what?”

“We were walking straight into a trap.” John tried to steady himself as thoughts of the worst possible outcomes to the situation filled his head, but to no avail. The lightheaded feeling he’d gotten when they’d first entered was returning. “We shouldn’t have gone down here. Now there’s no way to get out. We’re gonna run out of oxygen and die and—”

“Relax,” the Hurricane broke in. “You can teleport us out of here, remember?”

Oh, yeah. John breathed a sigh of relief. “Probably should’ve thought about that before I started having a complete mental breakdown.” He gripped the Hurricane’s hand tightly, closed his eyes, and—

Nothing.

It was like he was trying to reach out to something, make a familiar connection, but he was being… blocked. Jammed. It felt like the feeling people got whenever they were about to think of something important, but then forgot what they were even thinking of in the first place: complete helplessness out of their inability to retrieve the information.

“I…” he trailed off, then proceeded to admit, “I can’t.”

“Oh, okay,” the Hurricane said. “Just rest until—”

“No, I mean I legitimately _can’t_ ,” John clarified, his stomach twisting with fear. “Something’s blocking me.”

“Oh, fuck.” A look of realization crossed the Hurricane’s face. “Zero, can you still talk to me?”

 _Fuck,_ John thought, because he was starting to catch on to where this was going. He asked, _Can you hear me?_

Again, nothing, and the panic that had already started to rise in John grew even more present. “D-did you hear that?” John asked, and he already knew the answer, but he still had some inkling of hope that his fears wouldn’t be confirmed.

The Hurricane shook his head.

“Is it just me?” John asked quietly. “Or is it you, too?”

The Hurricane held his hand out in front of him with his palm facing outwards. After a few seconds, he said, “No, it’s me, too.”

John’s brain quickly turned on him, filling his thoughts with things that only made his panic worse. _Fuck, fuck,_ fuck _, we’re trapped and there’s no way out, fuck, the two of us are gonna die in here and they’re never gonna find us and the Crowned is going to take over the country and fuck, America’s gonna blame us for not being there—_

John stilled, his mind going blank; the static that filled it had vanished, leaving only a dead quiet in its wake. _What will you regret most if you and him die in this place?_ The thought formed in his head slowly, pouring its way through every opening in his consciousness. Once he’d had time to fully comprehend it, the weight of it, he started trying to think of an answer.

_Probably not opening up to him._

And John started talking without warning, spilling his insides all over the floor in the hopes that it would take away the regret he held for closing himself off for so long. “My mom,” he began, and he thought of her face: sunny and freckled, just like his. He tried not to think about how he would see her whenever he looked at himself, and every mirror would become a ghost. “She died… two months ago, now, I think. Yeah, two months. God, I loved her so much. She was my best friend.” He smiled as the memories from his time in South Carolina started to fill his head. “We used to sit outside during the summer and watch the clouds during the day and watch the stars at night. She would—” He paused to collect himself when his voice broke. “She would braid my hair when it got too long, so I never wanted to get a haircut. She taught me how to braid hair, too. Can I… can I braid yours while I talk?”

The Hurricane looked stunned, like he was overwhelmed by John’s sudden willingness to talk. “Y-yeah,” he stuttered in response, and John moved behind him, sitting up on his knees.

“She was just… she was always there for me, you know?” John continued as he took the Hurricane’s hair out of its ponytail and ran his fingers through it to get the tangles out. He parted it into two sections, and started from the right side by taking three sections at the crown of the head and crossing them over each other, adding hair each time. “I came out to her before anyone else, and she understood me. Like, I felt like she _got_ me. She _supported_ me.” He noticed that his words were starting to get bitter as thoughts of his father poked through his subconscious, and quickly apologized for it. “S-sorry. Anyways, at first, it didn’t hurt when she died.” He thought of that night, of the cold and the flashing lights and the complete darkness. “I didn’t feel anything. But when we went to her funeral, it just sort of hit me, like, ‘Oh, she’s gone, and you’re never gonna see her again.’ F-fuck, sorry,” he stuttered when he heard the anguish creeping into his voice, felt the tears starting to run down his cheeks.

John was crying so hard that he couldn’t see, and he fucked up his braid. He ran his fingers through the Hurricane’s hair to separate it again and resorted to just tugging on it for reassurance. “Come here,” he heard the Hurricane whisper, and John quite willingly fell into his embrace.

“I just… I feel so fucking _empty_ inside sometimes,” John went on, trying to steady his voice as he pointed the conversation in a different direction. “And other times, I feel too much, and it’s overwhelming. I either feel everything or nothing at all and I hate it.”

A comfortable silence formed between them, and in the midst of the daze he found himself in upon its arrival John could imagine himself tangled in his own intestines, watching his blood running across the floor, red and sticky and revealing.

The Hurricane pulled him back to reality with a quiet, “Why did you wait so long?”

“Wait so long to do what?”

“Open up.”

“I was afraid,” John admitted. “I didn’t know if I could trust you, and…” he trailed off.

“You were afraid that I would hurt you?” the Hurricane finished.

“Yeah.”

“Can I talk to you now?”

“Please,” John said in a hushed voice, then prepared himself to listen by going completely silent and blocking out every thought in his head.

“My dad left when I was 10,” the Hurricane began, and John recalled him saying that a while ago. “My mom died, too, when I was 12; the two of us lived in the Caribbean together, and we both got really, really sick. I got better, but she just kept getting worse, and worse, and the worst part about it wasn’t even that she died, it was seeing her _deteriorate_ , watching her body just give up on her.” He stopped to wipe his eyes, and John felt guilty for not being able to properly comfort him. “When she died, I came to America, and they put me in foster care until I turned 16 a few months ago. I was legally emancipated.

“Back when I was 12 or 13, though, in middle school, I found out about my powers, and I got in contact with Washington. I told him I wanted to put myself to good use, and we started working together. He helped me learn how to control my powers, but learn about myself, too, y’know?” At this point, the Hurricane started playing with John’s hair again. “The first mission he sent me on, he asked me if I was sure I wanted to do this, and I just remember thinking, _I wasn’t able to save my mom, so I’m going to save everyone else that I can,_ ” he said, choking out a sob. He laughed through it, continuing with, “Cliché, I know.”

After the Hurricane finished, John pulled away and gave him the best hug he could manage, even though he knew in his heart that it was a lame attempt at offering comfort.

“I’m not really sure, but I think I love you,” John said when the two pulled away and they fell into the same position they’d been in before, with John resting his head against the Hurricane’s chest.

“I don’t know either, but I think I love you too,” the Hurricane said, and they stayed pressed up against each other like that for a while before the Hurricane’s phone rang and John had to move out of the way so he could answer it.

“What’s going on?” the Hurricane asked when he picked up.

“I’m coming to get you two,” Washington answered.

“What?”

“I said, I’m coming to get you two,” Washington repeated.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, _I’m coming to get you two_.”

“Whatever that means,” the Hurricane shrugged. “Please hurry, I don’t want to be down here any longer.”

“Will do.”

The Hurricane hung up, then put his phone away. “Well, guess we just have to wait, now.”

“Aren’t you worried that whatever he has planned won’t work and that we’ll be stuck down here?” John asked, voicing his paranoia as an attempt to get rid of it.

“Not really,” the Hurricane answered. “Washington always finds a way. He’s Washington.”

And it appeared as if Washington had found a way, because about five minutes later, the ceiling of the room they were in (which also happened to be the street above) cracked open and collapsed completely. John and the Hurricane rushed to avoid the debris; once they were safely out of the way, John looked up to see none other than George Washington, the President of the United States, fully outfitted in his supersuit.

“Oh,” was all John could say. “ _That’s_ what he meant.”

The Hurricane followed his gaze, and when he saw Washington, an expression of pure excitement spread across his face. “And I thought he was retired.”

“I am,” Washington said as he swooped down and lifted the both of them into the air by their collars. “This was the only way to get you two without getting ourselves into a bigger mess.”

“Well, thanks for the lift, Daddy G,” the Hurricane said with a wink.

Washington let go of him. When he caught himself and joined the two once more, Washington said, “Never call me that again.”

“ _Injustice_ ,” the Hurricane declared.

“Where do you two want me to drop you off?” Washington asked, ignoring the Hurricane.

“Somewhere no one can see us,” the Hurricane provided.

 _Oh, fuck, we haven’t made out in, like, a day,_ John realized.

Washington sighed, then landed near an abandoned school. “Is this okay?”

The Hurricane nodded with a grin. “Perfect,” he said.

“Well, you two have fun,” Washington said. “I’m going to get going, now.” With that, Washington flew off, leaving the two of them alone.

The Hurricane grabbed his hand, and the two of them ran inside the building. “Come on, they’ll never find us _here_ ,” the Hurricane said, and John couldn’t help the smile that he gave in response. They ran through the hallways, past the locker rooms, through the gym, and by the pool, laughing the whole time, until they finally stopped inside the principal’s office.

The Hurricane closed the door behind them, and John was still giggling. The Hurricane shut him up with a kiss that was so deep, John had to steady himself by gripping the desk behind him as he leaned back.

“I wanna kiss you, like, really kiss you,” the Hurricane said when he pulled away, and John’s heart started speeding up when he realized that the Hurricane was taking off his mask.

Once it was off, the Hurricane leaned forward, and John’s breath caught in his throat, because oh god, he recognized that face.

 _Alex?_ he thought.

“I’m really sorry, but I have to go now,” John interrupted hurriedly, pushing the Hurricane away.

“Wait, Zero, what’s wrong?” he asked, but John ignored him and teleported off somewhere, anywhere. He didn’t care where he ended up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> l m a o


	21. Bang The Doldrums

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> puns and cheesiness in general + awkward smut  
> (idk whether or not to increase the rating bc of this chapter??¿¿¿?? im,,,,)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> probably won't update much next week because of ap homework!!

It was 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 27th, 2016—an hour after he’d run away from both his problems _and_ Alex—and John Laurens _still_ wanted to set himself on fire.

After he’d teleported, he’d ended up in Alex’s house (great) with no one home but Hercules, who’d retreated to his room as soon as John greeted him after being let inside. Alex hadn’t come home yet, so he figured he had time to mull things over before he was forced to face the situation.

He felt so _uncomfortable_ where he was now, sitting on Alex’s bed; the _Hurricane’s_ bed. Alex had held him here while he cried and struggled to open up, held him here through the night while he slept. The memories made his presence overwhelming, and the scenery of the room itself wasn’t helping. Everything about the room made it painfully obvious that it belonged to Alex: the dirty clothes and books scattered all over the floor, the unfinished essay papers stacked on the bedside dresser, the political posters plastered on the wall by the closet. All John could think about was Alex, Alex, _Alex_ ; he felt like if he thought about anything else that didn’t involve his immediate reaction to his surroundings, Alex would be able to hear it. He didn’t feel safe inside his own mind.

He couldn’t stop his thoughts from flowing, though; the shock of what’d happened had faded, and he was now left with the need to go over everything in his head to make the best decision possible about what to do regarding Alex, as well as a strange impulse to act immediately pushing at the back of his consciousness. He decided to deal with the impulse later, because he and his impulses didn’t exactly have the best relationship with each other.

The first thing to go over: Alex was the Hurricane, and that was a fact. The two of them had the same eyes, the same face, and as John was now realizing, the same voice. He’d seen him without his mask on, so there was no way he could argue otherwise.

Since Alex was the Hurricane, that meant that Alex was also the boy that John had been making out with for a good week and the boy he’d basically confessed his love to—even if it was with a little uncertainty—an hour prior. Since the Hurricane was also Alex, that meant that the Hurricane had been the one awkwardly flirting with him since they’d met, the one that had taken him to Denny’s at 1:00 in the morning when he’d said that the was hungry, and the one that had taken him stargazing and made him blush like crazy by spouting the cheesiest romantic bullshit he’d ever heard. Possibly the most important truth that came from all this was that since Alex was the Hurricane and the Hurricane was Alex, John’s affections were directed towards one person and not two.

That cleaned things up nicely.

He didn’t even feel stupid for not realizing sooner, he just felt… well, he felt a lot of things, actually: he felt relieved that he didn’t have to feel guilty anymore for wanting a relationship with Alex while he had the Hurricane showering him in so much affection with the obvious intent of starting some sort of relationship between them; he felt as if he was drowning in his own ecstasy, because the prospect of he and Alex feeling the same way about each other completely overwhelmed his senses, made his skin prickle and his insides twist with anticipation; and he felt nervous, because there was always the possibility that he could fuck up by doing the wrong thing or giving into his impulses.

It was Alex, fucking _Alex_ that was doing all of this to him, making him feel so much. In a backwards way, John loved feeling so vulnerable, but only because Alex was the one responsible for his vulnerability; he loved being in love with him.

The second thing to go over: what was John going to do about everything? Confront Alex about it, that was for sure. But, like, with making out thrown into the mix. That sounded like a good plan to him—to just talk about it and kiss a little bit along the way—but he wanted to make sure that he didn’t do anything impulsive to get to that endgame.

It was probably too late for that, because he was already on his phone, shooting a text Alex’s way.

 **me:** alex  
**hamilton:** ??????????  
**me:** can you come home??  
**hamilton:** did something happen?  
**hamilton:** are you okay?  
**me:** no im fine, i just need to talk to you about something important  
**hamilton:** what is it???  
**me:** i’d rather just talk to you about it when you get here  
**hamilton:** okay!!!!!! i’ll be home soon ;)

John put his phone away, trying to visualize where Alex might be at the moment: maybe he was still wandering the halls of the abandoned school, still in shock and not quite sure what to make of John’s rushed exit; maybe he’d made his way over to the garden and was sitting in the grass, reminiscing about all the times they’d talked to and kissed each other there and feeling John’s phantom touch on his lips as the garden’s floral aroma surrounded him; or maybe, he was walking through dark alleyways to avoid being seen on his way to nowhere in particular, moving aimlessly through the city and staring at its lights in the distance while he wondered what he could’ve possibly done wrong to make John leave him so quickly, so suddenly—

He felt a guilty, sinking feeling in his stomach when he thought about how he’d run away instead of just talking to Alex and sorting things out. This was why he shouldn’t do shit based on impulse, he thought as he heard Alex open the door and moved to totally go do some shit based on impulse.

John came out of Alex’s room and met him at the door right as Alex locked it behind him, and when Alex saw him, he gave a slight wave in greeting. “Hi, John—”

John threw his arms around Alex’s neck and cut him off by pressing his mouth to his. So much for stopping yourself from acting on impulse, he thought vaguely as Alex hurriedly returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around his waist.

 _I know you’re the Hurricane, Alex,_ John said telepathically, because Alex’s tongue was in his mouth now and he couldn’t really talk with those circumstances.

Luckily, Alex didn’t pull away, just responded with a telepathic message of his own. _What? How did you—? Wait. How are you talking to me like this? Are you—?_

_Yeah._

_God. You two were—?_

_The same person the whole time? Yeah,_ John finished, finally able to catch his breath as Alex pulled away to laugh.

“Fuck, man,” Alex remarked, wiping his mouth. “That’s so… f-fucking…” He was trying to talk, but he was laughing too hard to get a word out.

“I know!” John said before bursting into laughter along with him.

“Come on, let’s go,” Alex said with a wink once the two of them calmed down, taking John by the hand and leading him to his room so quickly that John had to run to catch up, tripping over his own feet several times along the way.

When they got inside his room, Alex kissed him so hard that he fell back onto the bed with his heels digging into the carpet to steady him. He hurried to climb on so Alex could join him.

He felt his hands start to twitch when he realized that Alex was on top of him, looking down at him with unblinking eyes and dilated pupils. “Um, can you, uh,” he began, stumbling over his words and squirming around under Alex, “can you—?”

“Stop?” Alex suggested when John cut himself off.

“No, but—” John stopped himself, then took a deep breath. “Look, I have the emotional maturity of a 12 year old and I’ve literally never never touched a dick in my life except for my own. So, like, maybe you can do that later, but, um, not now.”

“John, I wasn’t gonna do anything to make you uncomfortable,” Alex told him, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

John felt like crying, because in those words and in that kiss, he could see how much Alex loved him: enough to respect him and his boundaries. Instead of breaking down yet again, though, he managed to contain himself and instead responded with a shaky, “Oh, um, t-thanks. You can do whatever as long as, um…”

“Yeah,” Alex whispered. “Just tell me if anything I do makes you uncomfortable and I’ll stop, okay?”

John gave a slight nod. “Okay.”

He let out a gasp when Alex started working his teeth into his collarbone, because the contact, the realization that this was _Alex_ biting him, marking him up, sent a shiver through him that he hadn’t been expecting. He almost worried about whether or not he would be able to hide the marks that Alex was sure to leave from his father, but then realized that his father had kicked him out and he would never have to come home to him again, hopefully.

“Can I take your clothes off?” Alex asked, tugging at the hem of John’s shirt.

“Um, yeah,” John said, trying not to let his face go as red as it felt. Alex pulled John’s shirt off, and his sweats followed after some struggling and a little bit of help from Alex. He felt kind of awkward being so exposed, but he didn’t mind, because his mild discomfort was surpassed by his overwhelming need for Alex to touch him.

“Alex,” John whimpered when he started kissing the inside of his thighs, and John wasn’t sure if it was a complaint or an exclamation of pleasure. Maybe it was both.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked, looking up.

“Yeah, but maybe, uh, not there anymore?” John said with a sheepish smile, and Alex moved to trail kisses down his legs and up his chest.

“John,” Alex said quietly when he reached his neck, pressing a kiss to his jawline, “you’re the kind of boy people write poems about.”

John tried his best not to become a stuttering mess at this, but his best wasn’t good enough. “Um, I— F-fuck, Alex, I— I love you so much.”

Alex moved until their foreheads were touching and said, “I love you too, John,” giving him butterfly kisses all the while.

They fell into silence soon after that. Alex picked the conversation back up by saying, “John?”

“Yeah?” John asked, assuming that Alex was going to say something profound judging by the intense way he was staring into John’s eyes.

“I guess you could say that,” Alex began, “you’re a little _under the weather._ ”

“Fuck, I’m breaking up with you,” John declared, trying to roll off the bed.

“Wait, babe, I didn’t mean it!” Alex rushed to stop him, and the two of them fell into laughter.

“That’s not fair!” John complained when Alex started tickling his stomach. “You’re… you’re fully clothed!”

Alex then proceeded to take his clothes off to level the playing field, and before he did, John didn’t think that he could get any gayer; but looking at the way Alex’s muscles moved under his skin as he shifted to tickle John’s neck, he thought, _Wow, I just got, like,_ ten times _gayer. Is that even possible?_

“Alex, I can’t breathe,” John laughed, and Alex moved his hands to stroke his hair instead. John was fine with this.

What John was also fine with, surprisingly, was when Alex started running his fingers through John’s curls and accidentally pulled a little, which triggered a moan and an instinctive upward thrust of his hips.

“Sorry—” Alex started, but John interrupted him.

“I change my mind,” he said, slipping off his underwear without a second thought. “Just jack me off or something, I don’t know.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to _blow_ you?” Alex asked, and John gave a sigh of exasperation.

“Can we break up for the second time?” John was about to joke, but he didn’t get a chance to, because Alex’s hand was already wrapped tightly around his length, running it up and down, while his other yanked at John’s hair each time he tried to thrust himself further into Alex’s fist. He ached for more friction, an ache that manifested itself in the form of a burning feeling in his thighs and stomach.

John felt self-conscious about how loud he was getting when he saw that Alex was staring at him, eyes scanning his face. “Come on, babe,” Alex coaxed him reassuringly when the two met eyes, moving to kiss his collarbone. John responded by moaning unintelligibly and starting to thrust up faster.

He didn’t last much longer after that; what set him over the edge was the realization that this was Alex touching him, the person whose hands he’d imagined around his cock in place of his own. He came in short spurts across Alex’s chest and stomach with a final thrust and a noise that was something between a groan and a sharp gasp.

Alex kissed his jawline after helping him ride out his orgasm, and John stuck a finger under the waistband of Alex’s underwear. “C-can I—?” he started to ask in between heavy breaths, but Alex stopped him with a shake of his head.

“No, you don’t have to,” he told him with a kiss on the cheek.

“But I _want_ to,” John insisted. “I’m gonna feel bad for being the only one to get off.”

“But _I_ don’t want you to,” Alex corrected himself. “I’m fine right now. Don’t feel bad, John.”

John looked up at him, blinking. “Oh, um, okay,” he whispered as he slipped under the covers and curled up, slightly relieved that Alex had refused him. John probably wouldn’t have known what to do, just sat there like a deer in the headlights. He was guessing that Alex knew that.

“I’m gonna go take a shower. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Alex told him, and John felt his weight leave the bed.

“Without me?” John asked with a yawn, and Alex laughed.

John must’ve fallen asleep after Alex left, because when he next lifted his head, Alex was sitting up next to him, scrolling through his phone while stroking John’s hair. “Is it time for school?” John asked, apparently too lazy to look out the window.

“No, it’s 7:00,” Alex provided. When John kept staring at him expectantly, he clarified with, “At night.”

“Oh,” John sighed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and trying to fight his drowsiness; he wanted to stay awake in Alex’s presence for as long as possible. He sat up and rested his head on Alex’s shoulder. “Could you grab my sweats for me?” he asked, and Alex leaned over the edge of the bed to get them. After being handed them, John wriggled into his sweats under the sheets.

Alex gave John a chaste kiss on the lips before tucking a strand of John’s hair behind his ear. “How are you, sugar?” he asked, gently rubbing John’s back in a circular motion.

“I’m good,” John answered, feeling his heart flutter and his face go pink at Alex’s unexpected use of the nickname. “How are you?”

“Better, now that you’re up,” Alex said, leaning over to peck John’s nose.

John couldn’t help but smile. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Alex paused, then put his phone on the dresser and scooted closer to John. “John, everytime I look at you, I’m scared I’m gonna hurt myself, because everyone says it’s dangerous to look directly at the sun. But then I remember that the light you give off is too soft to do that; you exist in your beauty without it having the capacity to harm anyone.”

John felt it a little hard to breathe after listening to Alex say that to him, because Alex had called him the sun and then called him soft and beautiful and gentle all in the same sentence. Alex had such a way with words that John might’ve believed them if he didn’t already know that they weren’t true; he knew that his light wasn’t soft, but harsh and toxic and reliant upon the light of others. He wasn’t gentle, but needy; he didn’t give off the vibrant and warming light of the sun, but the borrowed and ever-waning light of the moon.

“Do you really love me that much?” John asked, feeling tears which he attempted to keep from falling starting to prick at the corners of his eyes.

“I really love you that much,” Alex said, and the two of them stayed in each other’s embrace for a few more minutes before he suggested, “Should we go out into the living room and watch a movie before we go to bed?”

“Yeah,” John said with a nod, glad to have something to take his mind off of things.

When they walked into the living room, Hercules was waiting for them, casually flipping through his History textbook and jotting down a few notes on a sheet of lined paper. The first thing he said to them when he saw them wasn’t, “Hi,” or, “Good to see you guys,” or, “How are you doing?” It was a simple remark of, “You two need to learn how to keep it down,” which Hercules spoke without looking up from his textbook.

John’s face started heating up, and he moved to hide from Hercules’s line of sight behind Alex, who retorted with an, “I thought you weren’t home, or at least, in your _room_!”

“Yeah, well, I _was_ in my room until you got distracting,” Hercules shrugged. “By the way, tell Angelica she owes me ten dollars.” After saying this, Hercules closed his notes in his textbook and went back to his room.

“Don’t worry about him,” Alex told John as they sat down on the couch. “He’s not gonna do anything drastic, promise.”

John was going to respond with worry and reasonable doubt when his phone went off; he checked it to see that Maria had texted him.

 **maria(h):** john, are you with alex??  
**me:** yeah why  
**maria(h):** you two might wanna turn on the tv and check the news. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the second cliffhanger in a row oops


	22. Whoops, They Lost The President

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> too many metaphors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LMAO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING BUT SCHOOL STARTED THIS MONDAY AND,,,,, I WANT DEATH  
> also i updated on the 234th anniversary of john's death, what a day to finally update

Alex found that one of his favorite things about being around John was that he always felt the warmth of the sun no matter what time of the day it was that they were together. Even just sitting at John’s side, Alex was more at peace than he’d ever been in his entire life (even if saying so might’ve been one of his gross exaggerations); he supposed it was because they’d finally grown comfortable in each other’s presence, now that neither of them had any secrets to keep. There was no more worry, no more paranoia; it was just calm, the kind of calm brought about by a grey morning hanging over the ocean that followed after a storm. Alex knew that John was his sun, but maybe Alex was the waves and John was his moon, too, pushing him away and pulling him closer in cycles.

John might have trusted Alex, now, but he still didn’t trust _people_ ; Alex had to make sure that he didn’t grow to feel entitled to knowing John’s thoughts, so he resolved to think of himself as _people_ , albeit a very special member of that group. He needed to keep his selfishness in check so it didn’t breach John’s boundaries like it had threatened to do before John had opened up to him on his own accord.

He just needed to be careful. All too often Alex became not only _the_ Hurricane but _a_ hurricane, giving no regard for the destruction that his reckless winds would cause and letting them loose anyways to destroy the relationships he’d so painstakingly built. He hated himself for his selfishness and disregard for others; he wanted to be as bright and generous as a summer’s day, but instead he orchestrated the winter winds, taking everything from everyone for his own satisfaction.

He needed John in his life, but he didn’t want to bleed him dry and ruin something perfect.

The two of them were sitting on the couch together, not moving to do anything in particular; it felt to Alex like their energies were escaping into the air with every breath each of them took, melding and mixing until the colors they formed became a hazy blur, a sort of mist hanging around them.

Oh, and John was shirtless. That was pretty nice to look at.

John’s hair was still tied up in a ponytail, but some strands had come loose and it was frizzy in some places around the front. Alex wanted to take it out so he could run his fingers through it, even though he knew it would be impossible to do so through the tangled mess it had become during John’s nap.

Noticing that Alex was staring at him, John offered a lazy smile, and his eyes lit up even though the skin underneath them was tinged a dark purple color. Sitting there with the purest smile on his face, Alex could think of a million things that John bore his likeness to. Dew on rose petals. White fog forming over the streets on a December morning as one felt the excitement brought on by Christmas’s impending arrival. The sound of birds chirping. Yellow and black stripes on bumblebees. The soft purple color the area just above the horizon turned during the transition from night to dawn. The realization of morning’s arrival triggered by seeing that soft purple color. Bright but muted piano music playing from the next room over. The sun. The dreamlike state one fell into while staying awake between midnight and dawn, a state not quite equatable to consciousness but not quite equatable to unconsciousness, a state which was perhaps formed entirely by the subconscious. Visiting a gas station or rest stop at night, patiently standing completely still as the distant sounds of passing cars and those of the cold wind formed the only background music. Staring at the ceiling and trying to make pictures out of the cottage cheese. Sitting under dim lighting and trying to read a book. Sitting under dim lighting and trying to make sense of the words. Giving up on trying to make sense of the words and blowing through the rest of the book without a second thought, not caring for the resulting lack of understanding. Blowing out hot air on a cold night and watching it materialize. Crystal outcroppings, little veins of minerals running through millions of years of rock layers. The moon.

Alex was so, so, so in love with John that it _still_ hurt, even after finding out that John felt the same way; it hurt because he wanted so desperately for those feelings to _last_ , wanted so desperately for those feelings to _mean_ something. He just wanted things to be okay; it didn’t matter if they weren’t great or wonderful or fantastic, he just wanted everything to be okay, for John’s sake. Especially with everything that was going on regarding the current state of D.C. in particular and America as a whole.

The government was, of course, pretending to have everything under control so that the people wouldn’t panic, but that was pretty obviously a blatant lie that the people saw through and ended up panicking about anyway; this offered the Crowned nothing but an advantage, because his hold over the population of D.C. would persist through fear. The Crowned had the upper hand, even though D.C. was home territory; this didn’t make things any better for Alex and John, or the rest of their team, for that matter.

Somehow, this was going to end, either with the Crowned being captured and defeated or with the Crowned taking over the United States’ government and exerting a dictatorship over its citizens. One of those outcomes was definitely more preferable than the other, and it was their job to make sure they reached that outcome.

John looked away, and Alex followed his eyes to see that he’d pulled his phone out of his pocket. He read something that was presumably not good, because he looked back up at Alex and frowned.

“What is it?” Alex asked.

“Maria says to turn on the news,” John told him, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

Those words made Alex a bit sick to his stomach, because he knew that if Maria was telling them about this, what they would learn would probably have something to do with the Crowned. The circumstances didn’t lead him to believe that it would be something good.

“Okay,” Alex agreed, trying to keep himself calm so that John wouldn’t lose his shit, either. He grabbed the remote from where it was resting on the coffee table and turned the TV on. “Fox?” he joked to defuse some of the tension.

John gave a nervous laugh. “I mean, sure. It’s not like it matters.”

So Alex changed the channel to Fox News, and the headline he saw sent him into complete, unabashed shock.

_PRESIDENT KIDNAPPED BY CROWNED_

Once that initial shock faded, his stomachache returned, and he felt like throwing up. He ignored the panic rising in him and forced himself to listen to what the news anchor was saying.

“Breaking news: it has been confirmed by elected officials that President George Washington was kidnapped by notorious supervillain the Crowned earlier this evening after going out into the field,” the blonde reported, and Alex immediately thought, _This is all our fault. If we’d been more careful and stayed away from the secret base, then Washington wouldn’t have had to get us and this wouldn’t have happened._ The anchor continued by saying, “Originally, officials denied such claims, but after this video of the Crowned with the President requesting ransom for him in the form of his entire cabinet and Vice President was leaked, they did confirm that the claims are true.” After she finished, Alex tuned out everything else and fixed a blank stare on the television screen, running through all of the things he could’ve done or refrained from doing to stop this from happening.

“Fuck,” he finally choked out, “it’s my fault. I should’ve stopped us from going in there—”

John cut him off by wrapping his arms around him and resting his head in the crook of Alex’s shoulder. “Please don’t say that,” he whispered. “It’s not anyone’s fault except the Crowned’s. We can fix this.”

And Alex stopped moping, because with John so close to him, he realized that moping any longer would’ve been a very selfish thing to do; the two of them needed to focus on how to get the President back at the head of his country, and the sooner they succeeded, the better. He still felt overwhelmingly guilty for not being able to protect Washington from the Crowned using him as a chess piece, but he needed to ignore all that and start getting shit done. He pulled out his phone once he broke away from John’s embrace and got to work.

**group: SUPERHERO SQUAD**

**me:** so they fucking lost the president  
**jefferDICK:** What??????  
**maria:** i am aware, alexander  
**cariño:** wait jefferson is a superhero  
**cariño:** WAIT MARIA IS A SUPERHERO  
**me:** why else would i put jefferson here  
**cariño:** true, true  
**cariño:** so many reveals today  
**jefferDICK:** No one has told me what’s going on yet  
**maria:** wait john finally found out about alex  
**me:** yes  
**maria:** LMAO NICE  
**maria:** anyways, we have a washington to discuss  
**jefferDICK:** Can someone PLEASE tell me what’s going on?????  
**cariño:** the world’s most dangerous supervillain kidnapped the president of the united states and is currently demanding his entire cabinet and vice president as ransom  
**me:** (who he’s probably gonna kill if he gets ahold of)  
**jefferDICK:** HOW did this happen? How do you let. The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Fall into the hands of the world’s most supervillain who is trying to usurp the government???  
**cariño:** alexander didn’t have anything to do with it, you fuck  
**cariño:** also, way to pin it all on him instead of taking responsibility and suggesting a way to deal with the problem  
**me:** thats him¡¡!!!! thats my boyfriend!!¡¡¡!!!! thanks john!!¡¡¡!!  
**cariño:** (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡  
**maria:** i know we’re supposed to be talking about the president getting kidnapped but i just think it’s really great that you two are like officially together  
**maria:** ANYWAYS back to the president’s kidnapping  
**me:** we have a few options here  
**me:** either we go in to save washington ourselves  
**me:** or we can convince the government to agree to the ransom  
**cariño:** the second one seems like a last resort  
**cariño:** seeing as the crowned will probably hurt and or kill the people he’s asking for  
**maria:** seriously, what an asshole. if he kills the cabinet and vp, we don’t have shit, and if he keeps washington, adams will have to run the country while he uses washington against us  
**me:** ADAMS  
**me:** WE’RE GONNA BE POLITICALLY FISTED IN A TIME OF NATIONAL CRISIS IF THAT HAPPENS  
**jefferDICK:** So what do you three suppose we do to get back the President?  
**me:** well there are a lot of things we could do when you get down to the details, but i think all of them would end up with us confronting the crowned and rescuing washington ourselves. i don’t know if you two know about this, but john and i went down into his secret base and we got stuck there for a while because the room we were in had something in it that jammed our powers. so that tells us that 1) he has a secret base and 2) it’s probably equipped to stop us from being able to do anything. the solution? lure or drive him out from his secret base and get washington.  
**jefferDICK:** For that to work, we would need to get Washington out of wherever the Crowned is keeping him, not the Crowned. If the Crowned got out, but not Washington, we wouldn’t be able to do anything because, like you said, the base is equipped to stop us. If we got Washington out instead, we could get him without having to hand over the ransom.  
**me:** i hate to say it, but jefferson is right  
**jefferDICK:** That doesn’t even count for a fraction of the admissions you owe me  
**me:** shut the fuck your mouth  
**cariño:** but maria brought something up a while ago that’s kinda important to our plan  
**cariño:** the crowned is probably going to use washington to attack the city, since, you know, he’s the most powerful superhero in the country  
**maria:** fuck, he has the collars, too  
**maria:** which means he can pretty much get him to do whatever he wants by threatening him with death  
**me:** washington’s too smart to give into that. he knows that he’s more useful to the crowned alive than dead and that the crowned wouldn’t be able to kill him without seriously hurting his cause  
**cariño:** i don’t know, alex, killing the president would be a huge blow to our morale AND it would put adams at the head of the country  
**cariño:** so washington is just as valuable dead as he is alive  
**cariño:** and washington probably knows that  
**me:** fuck  
**me:** this is really bad  
**jefferDICK:** What did you expect from the President getting kidnapped?  
**cariño:** actually, what i was going to get at is that since washington is likely to go out to attack the city at the crowned’s orders to keep himself alive, that’s our chance to get him back because he’ll be outside any secret base and away from the crowned  
**maria:** sure we’ll be able to get him back, but what about the collar? if he’s with us, the crowned can just detonate it and kill him  
**me:** there are four of us, problem solved  
**me:** two of us can go after washington and the other two can go into the base and deactivate anything that needs to be deactivated  
**cariño:** but their powers will be neutralized, so how will they get out?  
**cariño:** also, the crowned literally has four other supervillains on his side that he can use to attack the city/attack the white house/keep us from deactivating anything  
**me:** well, our powers won’t be neutralized if they’re there protecting the base, because then their powers would be neutralized too  
**me:** so we just follow the villains, and more closely this time, because the last time we did that was a few hours ago and the president of the united states had to rescue us  
**jefferDICK:** This is an awful lot of information we’ve presented. Care to condense it?  
**me:** while washington is out attacking the city to save himself from dying and therefore throwing the nation into more chaos than it’s already in, two of us are going to pick him up while the other two go into the crowned’s secret base and follow/threaten his lackeys to deactivate washington’s collar, which the crowned will most likely use to keep him in check. is that concise enough for you, jefferson?  
**jefferDICK:** Perfect, Hamilton. When should we execute this plan?  
**me:** i would like to say right now, but i have to say that we’ll go whenever the crowned sends washington out to attack the city, because that’s the only time we’ll be able to  
**me:** but how are we gonna know when the city gets attacked?  
**cariño:** i have a sixth sense for danger, you feel  
**me:** oh, good to know, i guess  
**cariño:** okay but another important question  
**cariño:** how are we gonna find the secret base again?  
**me:** i’m sure that giant hole washington put through the ceiling must have opened up a lot more than just the room we got stuck in  
**maria:** so from the way you guys are talking, it looks like jefferson and i will be getting washington and you two will be doing the deactivating?  
**me:** i guess so ;)))))))  
**cariño:** ʕ •ᴥ• ʔ  
**maria:** john please  
**cariño:** ʕ •̀ o •́ ʔ  
**maria:** k sorry  
**cariño:** ʕ ᵔᴥᵔ ʔ  
**me:** alright, that’s the end of the conversation i guess. we all know the plan, right? just to go over it again, jefferson and maria will be going to get washington and john and i will be going into the base.  
**maria:** got it  
**jefferDICK:** Got it  
**cariño:** got it ʕ •ᴥ• ʔ  
**me:** alright, now i can stop talking to jefferson and make out with my boyfriend again  
**me:** peace out  
**cariño:** bye nerds

Alex turned off his phone, stuffed it back in his pocket, and turned off the TV. He didn’t like the silence that had suddenly gripped the room, so to break it, he asked, “Do you have any homework?” which John started laughing hysterically at. “What?”

“It’s just,” John said between laughs, “we just spent twenty minutes talking about the President of the United States being kidnapped, which is basically a national emergency, and you ask me if I did all my _homework_?” He took a deep breath, starting to calm himself down.

“I mean, yeah. I still expect you to be a responsible young man,” Alex said, then felt like throwing himself off a cliff as soon as the words left his mouth because they sounded like something an overprotective parent would say. “Just because an act of treason against the state has been committed doesn’t mean you can skip out on doing your homework.”

“Okay, thanks, _dad_ ,” John replied, and he started laughing again, with Alex joining in despite the fact that he was thinking about Henry Laurens the whole time.

“Did you want to go back to my room?” Alex asked, unable to stop himself from winking. They already had everything planned out to rescue the President of the United States from a man with superpowers who wanted to take over the US government, so Alex decided that there was really no need to worry about anything further until they needed to set things into action.

“Yeah, okay,” John agreed, and when they got there, the two of them sat up against the headboard with John leaning in to kiss Alex.

As their lips met and as Alex tangled his fingers in John’s hair, Alex thought about how nice all of this felt, and the overwhelming _want_ for the feeling to last tugged at his chest. He didn’t want to do something stupid or reckless and fuck everything up, all the trust that they had built between each other. He was scared of hurting John, scared of what he might do to ruin him.

He stopped thinking about fucking up, and suddenly, a wave of peace, a wave of _okay_ flooded through him. He was okay, and _they_ would be okay, because, as he realized in that moment, he might’ve been a hurricane, but John was his eye.


	23. Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> author's note (i know this isn't wattpad but i thought a few of you would like to know what's up)

okay so, i haven't updated this in more than a month, and i won't be in the future (at least, any time soon). i've lost interest in writing this; trying to write the next chapter was beginning to become a chore. in addition to this, i've started focusing more on my original universes and writing, which is obviously more important to me than fanfiction about the founding fathers. i'm really sorry to all of you that have been waiting for another chapter that i didn't tell you sooner. thanks to all of you who have supported me!

-cody


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